Eight Royal Trees

 Bengali
 English

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Eight Royal Trees
A Bengali Story by Anonymous

There was once a powerful King who was married to seven Queens. The
King was a good ruler and a generous man, but he had no heir to his
throne and this made him very sad.

One day, the youngest and most beautiful of the King’s wives became
pregnant. The King was overjoyed at this news and there was much
celebrating.

The older wives became more and more jealous of the young Queen as
their husband the King began to pay her more and more attention and
bestow upon her lavish gifts and affection.

When the day finally arrived, the youngest Queen did not give birth to just
one child, but instead gave birth to eight beautiful babies: seven handsome
boys and one beautiful girl.
The jealous Queens, unable to have children of their own, hatched an
unspeakable plan when they learned of the birth of the eight children.
During the night, before the poor King had a chance to see his sons and his
daughter, the Queens stole each child, killed them and buried them in the
palace gardens where they would never be found.

Then the jealous Queens replaced each boy child with a puppy dog, and
the baby girl they replaced with a small kitten. Then they called for the King
to come quickly to the youngest Queen’s chambers. ‘You see she has
given birth to animals,’ said the first wife.

‘This is surely witchcraft,’ said another. ‘You must banish your youngest
wife from our kingdom.’

Although the youngest Queen protested her innocence to the King, she
was still banished from the Kingdom and forced to live in exile, never
knowing what had happened to her beloved children.

The years passed until, one warm spring, something very strange
happened. From the earth where the wicked Queens had buried the eight
children, there grew seven Champa trees and one Parul tree, beautiful and
colourful and rich in aroma.

When the wicked Queens approached the trees and tried to pluck the
beautiful flowers, the branches lifted higher into the air out of reach. When
the King approached and tried to pluck the flowers, the branches moved
again so that the flowers remained on the tree.

Then a soft voice drifted on the scented breeze. ‘Bring the banished Queen
to us and see if she can pluck our flowers.’
The King ordered his most trusted guards to fetch the banished Queen and
return her to the palace.

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Upon her return, the young Queen was asked by the King to approach the
mysterious trees and try to pluck the flowers from the branches. When she
reached up and plucked a flower from the first Champa tree, a baby boy
emerged from the flower and was reunited with his mother. The same thing
happened with the second Champa tree and the third, until all seven baby
boys were reunited with their mother. And when the Queen reached up and
plucked the flower from the Parul tree, a beautiful baby girl emerged from
the flower and embraced her mother once more.

The King was overjoyed to see his family reunited at last and he asked his
wife to forgive him and to return to the palace forever.

The King also learned that the older Queens had been responsible for the
evil plot to separate him from his youngest wife and his eight children. He
immediately ordered that each wife be imprisoned for life and never spoken
of again.

After the evil Queens were imprisoned, the youngest Queen and the King
lived happily ever after with their eight beautiful children who all grew up to
be strong and healthy. This story quickly spread throughout the Kingdom
and the people learned that no good can ever come of envy or of
wrongdoing.

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