Bidasari And The Goldfish Part I

one day, the skies
         darkened in the
           middle of day

  

A beastly garuda                 
ATTACKED 

Once upon a time
The ancient birds whispered upon
even more ancientwinds

and the legends went round the world

There was a king who ruled a peaceful land. He was the Raja Besar and lived in a beautiful palace made of chengal and belian wood that would last a thousand years if not for the attack of the Garuda.

The king and queen were lucky to escape by night into the very forest surrounding their city. They took the path by the great river. The queen was in the family way, and was due to give birth at any moment. Tired and anguished, they had to stop often. Finally the sultan spotted a rock under a shady tree by the river. Here the queen gave birth to a most beautiful princess, who cried out lustily in the silent jungle.

            Quite unexpectedly, a beautiful goldfish appeared in the river. It was so tame, the sultan picked it up out of the water. Immediately, the baby stopped crying. Surprised, the sultan dropped the fish into the river, and the princess cried out again, reaching for her mother’s milk. It occurred to the sultan that the fish was a charm for his daughter so he gently scooped up the goldfish and placed it in a golden bowl he had with him.

            The queen gently bathed the princess and dressed her in finery. The royal couple knew that they could not take their firstborn with them for they did not know what lay ahead of them.  With a heavy heart, the queen nursed the baby and then they placed her on a float, with the golden bowl next to her. The sultan pushed the float downstream while the queen looked on, tears streaming down her tired face.

The river rippled along, rocking the baby gently. The birds in the sky followed it, chirping a sweet lullaby until the float reached the borders of the kingdom, and arrived at a fork in the river. After bobbing this way and that, the float took the fork on the right and soon arrived at the jetty by the riverbank that led to a rich merchant’s house. The maidens who were at the jetty saw the pretty float and pulled it closer. What a surprise to see the beautiful baby girl. Uncertain what to do, they took the baby and the golden bowl to their mistress.

The merchant’s wife immediately realized that the baby was of royal bearing. She also came to understand that the girl was unusual because her life was bonded to the fish: if the fish was out of the water, the baby stopped breathing. The merchant and his wife decided to adopt the girl and they called her Bidasari. Bidasari grew up to be a fine young lady. And life in Indraputra was never the same again after she turned sixteen.

She was the prettiest maiden in the land.


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