Lakshmi was the most beautiful girl in her whole village. If a person even glanced at her, they would just stare, entranced for hours. The poor rags she wore did not match her fair face at all. Lakshmi had something very special about her. She was born with a red “bindi” on her face. The bindi was magical as it actually contained her spirit inside it. She did not know this for she was only a child. Her mother had died when she was only 2 years old and her father, realizing that Lakshmi would need a mother to raise her, married another woman. Her name was Shakuntala. She had a daughter of her own whom she loved and nurtured, but she hated Lakshmi because she was better in every way than her own daughter, Radha. Radha was not beautiful at all and cruel like her mother. A few months later, Lakshmi’s father died too. She was left with her cruel stepmother and stepsister.
Radha and Shakuntala both tried to make Lakshmi’s life as miserable and uncomfortable as they could. They made her do all the chores that required manual labor and her stepmother only gave her enough food that she could survive. They dressed her in poor rags which were torn in some places. But Lakshmi took all this silently, without speaking against her cruel stepmother.
Lakshmi was hungry all the time. One day, she said to herself, “Oh, I am so hungry. What I wouldn’t give for some warm rotis and tasty dal right now.” No later had the words come out of her mouth that she felt her forehead getting warm. All of a sudden, a delightful feast appeared in front of her on large silver platters. It was a meal fit for royalty. She cried out in delight. She took it into a corner of the village and devoured the food as she had not eaten a decent meal in months. When she was done eating, the platters disappeared into thin air. She walked away, satisfied, into her cottage.
Lakshmi’s village was near a thick forest, so she used to explore it when she got free time, which was rare. She went there one day and looked around. Suddenly, she heard a loud snarling sound. Her heart started beating quickly. Quietly, a leopard came towards her and started circling her. Just as it was about to pounce, Lakshmi screamed. Again, she felt her forehead become warm and the leopard was gone. It just disappeared into thin air. Lakshmi ran back home, terrified. Now she was very scared of ever going into that forest.
On the day of the annual village fair, everybody was happy, but for one, Lakshmi. Her stepmother and her stepsister were going to the fair, but they warned Lakshmi not to sneak out to the fair. There was going to be a dancing contest at the fair. Nobody else knew this, but Lakshmi wanted to be a professional dancer in the future and dance in a big hall with many decorations. This village fair was the only way to show the world her dancing skills, but alas, Shakuntala had taken that away from her too.
As soon as Shakuntala and Radha left, Lakshmi burst into tears. She said sobbing, “Why? Oh why? Why can’t I go to the fair too? Why won’t mother let me go?” She cried even louder after this. Her bindi started glowing and she felt her forehead getting warm again. But it didn’t stop at that. It kept getting warmer and warmer. There was a white flash and Lakshmi found her old rags replaced by a beautiful red sari with beautiful designs on it and gorgeous golden jewelry around her neck, on her ears, and in her nose. She had beautiful silver anklets on her ankles that made a sound when she moved. She looked just like a princess.
She prayed to God and thanked him for this, then rushed outside. She gasped in amazement. There was a golden chariot waiting for her outside with two pure white horses attached to their reigns. The man driving the chariot signaled for her to get on. She slowly walked up to it and got on. The man slapped the reigns and the horses started running. Lakshmi was amazed; she thought she was in a wonderful dream. The horses halted at the man’s command. The man got off the chariot first and helped the stunned Lakshmi to get off too. The man had taken Lakshmi directly to the dance contest hall.
When she walked in, she saw guards in front of a well-dressed man. This man was no other than the prince, Jitender Singh. Lakshmi was amazed and didn’t dare go inside. She was an ordinary girl while the prince was inside. Jitender Singh was looking around at the people when he caught a glance of Lakshmi standing there. When he looked into her beautiful eyes, he knew that he had found his first love. He immediately got up from his seat and walked towards Lakshmi, entranced by her beauty. The other people saw this and looked in the direction the prince was going. They saw the most beautiful woman they had ever seen. Jitender Singh walked up to Lakshmi and said, “Oh my love, please come with me. Marry me and we can live together in my palace. I will give you anything you want my dear. Just come with me.”
Suddenly, Lakshmi heard a voice inside her head: “Lakshmi, run. Shakuntala is going home to the cottage to check on you.” Upon hearing this, Lakshmi ran away as fast as she could to her cottage. When running, she tripped over a stone and fell on her head. Her bindi fell off and she went unconscious.
Jitender Singh could not understand why his love ran away. For a moment, he was stunned, but then he regained his senses and tried to follow her. He kept walking and found a young woman unconscious on the ground. He saw a bindi on the floor next to her. Jitender Singh picked it and examined it carefully. “Wait a second,” he thought, “the beautiful maiden in the dance hall was wearing a red bindi too. Could this girl be that fair maiden? But if she is, why is she dressed in these rags?” The prince picked the girl up and placed the bindi back on her forehead. Suddenly, her rags transformed back into her beautiful clothes and the golden jewelry reappeared on her. Jitender Singh recognized her as the maiden from the dance hall. He took her in his arms and held her up. “Come with me my love,” he said. Lakshmi agreed and so the prince took her back to his palace, where they got married and lived together as king and queen.
Shakuntala and Radha were not as fortunate. When Shakuntala found that Lakshmi had disappeared, she threw a fit. She looked everywhere but couldn’t find her. Lakshmi did all the manual labor for Shakuntala and now that she was gone, Shakuntala needed to do it. She didn’t know how to do this type of labor, so she didn’t do it and neither did Radha. They were not willing to do work, so when winter came, they had nothing and starved to death. Queen Lakshmi and King Jitender Singh lived happily together for the rest of their lives.
Note: This story was written by Sumant S. Dangi back in 2013 in 7th grade as a Language Arts project in George C. Marshall School in Ankara, Turkey.
