Life Turning Spell – Short Story for Children
Life Turning Spell – Short Story for Children
Under the scorching sun of the mid may stood a huge banyan tree in the middle of the village of Rajpur. People who came there to fetch water stood under its shade for relief from the scorching heat. Some even slept there during the afternoons as its shade gave them a soothing effect. The village was a room for happiness and prosperity.
Everywhere there was greenery, lush green grass and water bodies. Even in the hot summers the trees and the lush green jungle of the village gave the villagers cool and wonderful breeze making the place ideal for every tourist to settle down in the village because of the happiness that prevailed in the village.
We could see children playing around, laughing and dancing. Women fetch waters from the rivers and men working in the fields at daytime and during the night all people gathered around in a common place and played together.
The king was happy by seeing his kingdom prosper and the kingdom was filled with happiness and only happiness, but until one day. The day that changed the fate of the village.
It was dark and the sun had already hidden itself behind the huge mountains that surrounded the village as a natural boundary. We could see birds returning to the nests after a tiresome day. Men were walking back home from their farms, women were waiting eagerly on their doorsteps to welcome their husbands home and feast their hungry stomachs.
It had past midnight when Ram woke up with a start. He had heard something unusual. He woke up his wife who was sleeping beside him , He asked
“Did you hear what I heard??”.
She replied in an irritated tone “ Stop this nonsense in the middle of the night, how can I hear what you heard”, saying so she turned to the other side and slept.
Thud Thud Thud!!! Yes you heard it right there was someone banging on the door loudly. Ram woke up to check out who it was. As he opened the door he saw someone standing in front of him entirely covered in black. To add to it the wind blew hard, the trees were swaying heavily from left to right as if they would fall on you any moment. The moon shone in its full gloom behind the large oak tree. It was going to rain. And as always the wolves in the deep, dark jungle howled as loud as their throats could make it possible.
Ram missed a beat when he saw the person in front of him. She looked weird. She had huge eyes , large ears as large as an elephant, her skin was aged as though she had lived an 100 years, her nails were long and dirty. She wore a long gown which was enough to sweep the entire village. She had a hump on the back and looked up at him through the small glasses which were placed on the long, sharp nose.
Ram spoke “Who are you? What do you want?” .
The lady spoke with a grumpy voice “I am new to this place can you please give me some place to stay and something to eat?
Ram said “Yes!! Of course we treat every guests of our village as our own so you can stay here in my house”.
So saying Ram asked her to take rest on the verandah of his house and also offered her a glass of milk which was the only food available at his house at midnight. She settled down in the Verandah, without even thanking Ram for the help he had rendered. Ram felt weird about the entire happenings.
The morning was fresh with cool breeze and the happy birds chirping around. People of the village had gathered in front of Ram’s house to have a sight of their new guest. She was irritated by the people and shooed them away from her. She lay there lazily the entire day when the whole of the village was happy and active. People asked Ram as to why he had given a room to her in his house. He replied by saying
“Our village is a personification of love and prosperity; we need to give others what we have so that it doubles”.
People accepted his view and moved ahead for their daily chores. 10 days passed and the lady lay there lazily as ever. She watched the happy people in the village; she knew there was abounded joy and happiness here. She said to herself
“Everything is there in this village and so people don’t bother about me, I must do something so that the entire village and even the king fall on my feet and I become the queen of the entire kingdom.”
Suddenly the rivers went dry, people were crestfallen they didn’t know how it had happened. Never had it happened ever before. Slowly the leaves of the trees started drying up and the entire green land had turned to a dry and barren land. People were shocked, the animals started to die of hunger and people started falling sick.
Months passed like this and no one knew what curse had fallen over the once fertile and the happiest kingdom. The king was worried. Seeing all this the lady sat on the verandah laughing. It was then the people of the village realised that it was because of this lady that all these had happened, They chased her out of the village and some even stoned her for her bad deeds. She ran to save her life and hid herself in a cave on the outskirts of the village.
It was celebration time in the kingdom, it was not only because the village had gained back what it had lost but also because the queen of the kingdom had given birth to their heir after a long long await. The most handsome prince was born to them. The village danced, the trumpets blew in its full force, the drums were played and the villagers danced and sang to the tunes that were being played there. It was festival time in Rajpur. People burst crackers and distributed sweets to each other. The king distributed gold coins to all the villagers to share his happiness.
The prince was the apple of the eye of every villager. It was said that he was the most handsome prince anyone could ever find. He was Fair, tall and had curly hair that had covered his head, with blue sparking eyes and rosy lips he truly looked stunning, when he galloped on his horse back there would not be a single eye that would not admire him, his smile would make people go mad over him. His voice was as sweet as a nithangle and his songs had become so popular that even people from outside used to visit Rajpur to have a glance of the handsome prince.
As he grew up people were spellbound by his looks and there was not a single princess in the entire world who wanted to marry him. Happiness had returned to the kingdom of Rajpur. The lady in the caves got to know about the happiness that had returned to the kingdom and she also got to know about the Prince who was the apple of the eye of all the villagers, she thought
“ You all chased me out of the village now let me see how you all can be happy “ Ha! Ha! Ha! (The usual laughs of all the wicked people).
Early in the morning as always the prince stood there in the balcony looking at the rising sun and humming his favourite song. When he sang loudly suddenly something unusual happened. He couldn’t sing any further. Just a word he spoke and no more words after that he could speak, he tried for hours together but no all his efforts went as a failure. The queen rushed in when she knew about it. They called the royal Doctor but nor did he know the reason for it.
The village fell into deep sorrow as no one in the village could predict what had happened. Yes!!! The bad witch had put a curse on the prince saying that he could speak only one word and after that he would not speak for the entire year. He could speak only one word for a year, but no one knew what was happening.
Months passed on like this. One day the prince was on his usual strolls around the village when something stopped him mid way. He had seen the most beautiful scene he had ever seen in all these years. A beautiful girl stood right in front of his eyes plucking flowers from her garden. She had beautiful black hair which touched her knees, sprinkling eyes that attracted anyone who looked into it. Her lips shone like diamond and she had the most wonderful smile with a small cute dimple by the side of her cheeks. The prince couldn’t take his eyes of her. He stood there spellbound in the beauty of the girl. The moon also couldn’t come near her as the beauty of the girl knew no limits.
The prince had fallen in love with the girl truly and wanted to marry her. He went there every day to have a glance of the girl; sometimes he even waited even for hours together just to have a glance of the girl. But he could never talk to her as he had this cruel spell on him. So he decided that he would not speak for years together so that he could save the words and then let her know that he loved her and wanted to marry her.
Four Years passed by like this, and finally the Prince decided to propose marriage to her. He was happy and excited the morning he woke up. He collected the most beautiful flowers from his garden and also the most expensive ring to gift her before he proposed her. He dressed up in the smartest way and started off to meet his lady love.
He was on cloud nine, this was the day he was waiting eagerly for the past four years, and he had butterflies in his stomach. On his way he was in so much of dreams of living a wonderful life with her.
He thought “First I will propose marriage and then I will give her a surprise by handing over the bouquet of flowers that I have specially made for her and also the ring and make her my own forever.”
He jumped with joy on having the thought of having her as his own.
She stood there in the garden plucking flowers as usual in her most beautiful way. The prince got off from his chariot in a magnificent way and went to her. She was surprised to see him there and gave the most beautiful smile which made the prince fall for her all over again. He went near her gathered all the courage and said “Will you marry me”. There was complete silence for a few seconds the prince waited to hear the most beautiful reply he wanted to hear. The girl replied after a long gap “PARDON”.
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