In this episode, we’ll continue the story of Astro Boy from the last episode! It’s a folk tale from the Indian state of West Bengal.
You’ll find out how to get by on charm alone. And we’ll see why if a stranger wants to send you on a crazy quest to find something obscure that no one else heard of and for a reason that no one seems to understand, it might be a good idea to refuse.
The Story so far
If you haven’t heard the last episode I recommend you check out. But admittedly in a story about Astro Boy, we didn’t get very far with Astro Boy himself. We met a King who was desperate for a child and heir. He married a poor girl because she was destined to bear a boy and a girl. The boy in particular would have the Moon on his forehead and stars on his hands. Hence, Astro Boy. When the children were born, the King was away.
Her evil fellow Queens and wicked midwife secretly substituted her children with puppies. Kind of like how someone always manages to use a folding chair on their opponent when the referee’s back is turned in the World of Wrestling Entertainment.
When the King returned from his campaign he was not impressed and took it out on the Queen, banishing her from the palace in the weakened state that she was in.
The midwife had actually put the kids into ready-to-bake clay pots and put them in the Potter’s kiln. We left it on a bit of a cliffhanger there with the Potter about to follow her daily morning routine of firing up the oven without first bothering to check the contents of all those pots.
Prayers answered?
But the potter didn’t! That’s because she woke up really late. She rushed to her workshop worrying about upset clients who would complain if they didn’t receive their pots on time. When she got there, she let out a sigh of relief. The pots were all done. Her husband had been proactive for once in his life. But that wasn’t it. The oven wasn’t hot. She quickly examined all the pots until she found the one with the babies in it. And the babies were well and good!
She and her husband had prayed for years, and now God had finally answered them. Not that she needed any further proof, but the boy had the Moon on his forehead and stars on his hands. If that wasn’t a sign from God, she didn’t know what was.
So from that day, the Potter and her husband raised the children. They did put gloves and a bandanna on the boy’s head though to keep a low profile. Just in case the kids weren’t really sent by God and were actually someone else’s. Not that they doubted the word of God. But it pays to be sure.
Tragedy
When the children were now into their late teenage years, their foster parents passed away.
It was a sad moment for Astro Boy and Astro Girl as I’m going to call them. They managed alright for a couple of days, but then they had a big decision to make.
AstroBoy thought they should stay back and take over the reins of the family business. But his sister, AstroGirl wanted to move on.
Astro Boy said, “We already have the Kiln, the clay, and the client base, we don’t need to invest any capital. Mom and Pop’s pottery business is just begging us to manage it.”
But Astro Girl had a better idea “We must move on. A rolling stone gathers no moss.”
“That’s what I was going to say in favor of my argument!” replied her brother
“Ok let’s flip a coin”. But they were penniless, so they flipped a button instead. And Astro Girl won!
So the two of them turned their backs on a well-established business and suburban life in general and instead moved right into the heart of the Kingdom.
A New Beginning
When they arrived there, they hadn’t a penny, had no job prospects. But if you’re charming, sometimes you don’t have to lift a finger. A group of merchants decided to help the poor orphans out. They set up the kids in a newly constructed home. And gave the boy the finest of their horses! And all for nothing. This was on the basis of charm alone. The boy’s forehead and hands were well covered.
“Didn’t I tell you this was a good idea?” Astro Girl asked her brother.
“But we have to pay them back somehow,” said Astro Boy.
“So go hunt food for them or something” replied his sister. “Now don’t bother me, I’m going to go relax in the Jacuzzi”
So that’s what Astro Boy did. He already had a fine horse. So he finagled a bow and arrow and from that day on, spent most of his time hunting deer in the jungle nearby. He was a pretty good hunter too. Maybe it was just in his blood.
A Chance Encounter
Speaking of which, that is how one day he almost ran into his father, the King. Yeah, the King was alive and well and still spending most of his time hunting.
When the King saw Astro Boy from a distance, by chance Astro Boy’s bandanna flew off clearly exposing the Moon on his forehead. As you can imagine it’s a bit hard to hide something the size of the Moon, especially if you don’t have a bandanna on.
The King was stunned to see that and his memory of his wife’s fortune cookie came flooding back. But he dismissed it. Couldn’t have been. His wife hadn’t actually had any such child, had she? He did mention it to his 6 Queens though. They panicked and had a secret rendezvous with the midwife. The midwife swore the children could not have survived, but they sent her anyway just to be sure.
So she went straight to the Potter’s house, where luckily for her the Astro kids had been around to leave a forwarding address. The midwife then went to the Astro Kids’ home and there she met Astro girl. Astro boy was out hunting as usual. Which helped the midwife. It was easier to trick one child than two.
Ketaki flower quest!
She presented herself as their Aunt and chatted with her niece for hours. Somehow at the end of it, the midwife worked into the conversation about how pretty Astro Girl was. And how beautiful Ketaki flowers would look in her hair.
Astro Girl had never heard of Ketaki flowers. But the midwife soon clarified that these were beautiful flowers widely available all over the land….. On the other side of the Ocean.
After she left, and Astro Boy returned from his hunt, Astro Girl narrated the events of the day to Astro Boy.
“Was she for real?” asked the boy
“Of course not! You think Mum and Dad would have mentioned it once if she had a sister. Besides she’s not from a distant land. She’s just the midwife in town. I’ve seen her before.”
“Why did she mention the Ketaki flowers do you think?” asked the boy.
“Obviously a trap. I don’t think we should do anything about it” was Astro Girl’s view.
But Astro Boy thought that if this was a trap, they must spring it. They flipped a coin again, and this time Astro Boy won.
An obstacle after another
He set out to cross the Ocean. On the way there he ran into a Rakshasi, who was a giant demoness who seemed to want to eat him. The quick-thinking Astro Boy decided to use the midwife’s trick. “Hi, Auntie! So glad to visit you. And I have a present for you!”
That took the Rakshasi by surprise. And why shouldn’t it? How would you feel, if just as you’re able to dig your fork into your pasta, the pasta spoke back to you?
She was not used to her food addressing her as “Auntie”.
She did not bite into him. Instead, she accepted his gift of deer and rhinoceros which he conveniently happened to be able to carry on his horse.
After a heavy lunch of deer and rhinoceros, Auntie Rakshashi confessed that she was going to eat her nephew for dessert, but she was just too full.
“Well, thank you,” said Astro Boy, and asked her how to get Ketaki flowers.
“It’s a long way,” she said. “But I can give you all the secret passwords and stuff. There are lots of dangers. Starting with my brother. But you can call him Uncle and give him some deer and rhinos and he’ll be happy”
“Why does he have to be there? If you can supply all of the details anyway, what value does he add?” asked Astro Boy.
“Just for symmetry, dear. You met me, a female demon. Symmetry demands you must meet a male demon too”.
That made sense to Astro Boy. He collected all the details of his quest including the secret passwords and ways to bypass the security system and sped off in the direction of the ocean.
On his way, he met and placated Uncle demon and continued on.
Password, please!
Soon after, he came upon a huge forest, full of thorny bushes. There was no space for him to get through. But he had the passphrase from Auntie demoness.
He said “0h m0th3r 4est, l3t m3 thru or 1 w0nt survive,” he said. He was careful to articulate the standard password substitutions. You know, 0 for o and 3 for e, and 1 for I, that kind of thing. Just basic cybersecurity stuff, otherwise people might just stumble on the password.
The forest opened up and made space for him to ride through, and in a similar way he crossed the entire Ocean as well. Seeing as he was on horseback and he had hundreds of miles to cross on the Ocean floor, it was remarkable that he managed to do it in a really short time.
When he got there, he realized the midwife had been cheating him after all. Ketaki flowers did not just grow all over the land. They grew in a very specific palace and garden that seemed to have demon footprints all over. Weirdly specifically originating from 700 demons. I cant imagine Astro Boy spent time cataloging the footprints to determine the number of demons.
Sleeping Beauty?
He walked right into the palace which seemed completely deserted and saw a beautiful golden bed. And in the bed was a beautiful lady. The most beautiful lady he had ever seen.
He cleared his throat but the lady wouldn’t wake up. Oddly both at the head and the foot of the bed there was a rod. He examined the rods, but by accident switched their positions. And that immediately woke up the lady. Her name was Blossom and she already knew everything there was to know. She knew who Astro Boy was, his origin story, what had led him here.
It isn’t really explained how she knew. Maybe she had some of my powers. Who can say when she’s completely fictional?
Anyway, she quickly advised Astro Boy to grab his Ketaki flowers from the garden and leave before the demons returned. But Astro Boy wanted to rescue her.
Unfortunately, Blossom didn’t know how he could rescue her.
“What? A know-it-all like you doesn’t know?” he asked
But Blossom said she would find out. She had Astro Boy replace the rods in the correct position, so that that would cast the sleeping spell on her again.
Community Horcrux
Later the demons returned and removed the rods to wake her up. Over dinner, she casually got out of them information about how they could be killed. Not in the most subtle way, but she claimed she needed to look out for herself. I mean what if all 700 of them coincidentally died before taking care of her. How was she expected to survive in such a hostile world?
The chief demon lady reassured the captive Blossom. “No one can kill us.
Well technically we did hear that it was possible to be killed by a man with the Moon on his forehead and the Stars on his hands. And obviously there isnt any such person.”
“But supposing there is” Blossom asked
“Well even then, he would have to dive into the pond in the royal garden, extract a box from the bottom, take out the two bees in it and kill them without spilling a drop of blood” the chief demoness replied.
“That sounds pretty easy. Two bees inside an underwater box with no oxygen supply. I’m sure they’re dead already.”
“No, no, these are magic bees” the chief demoness assured her.
And the next day, that’s exactly what Astro Boy did. He dove into the pond, got the bees out and crushed them, sting and all, and smeared their blood over himself so as to not let any drop fall on the ground.
And just like that, 700 demons nearby fell down dead!
Mission accomplished!
That’s all Astro Boy wanted. He grabbed all the Ketaki flowers he needed.
He also invited Blossom to join him on the journey home, and later on to join him on his life journey. She was more than happy to do that, even though he was practically a stranger and was less smart than herself.
Astro Boy’s trip back home was easy enough. He’d used the same passphrases to cross the Ocean and the forest and was now finally back home. Astro Girl meanwhile had made friends with the lady who was responsible for scaring crows and stray dogs. The striking resemblance between herself and this former queen turned scarecrow had not gone unnoticed.
Astro Boy and Astro Girl and Blossom lived together happily. Just for a day or two.
A Family Reunion
That is until the King showed up. He’d had a hard time finding the Astro kid, but now he was happy!
Blossom cleared her throat. A few introductions later, Blossom spilled the beans. Being a know-it-all, she knew all and told all. How the babies were switched, and all that the Astro kids went through.
Gullible as ever, King Bhola believed her completely without even questioning how Blossom had come about this information.
After some coaching from Blossom, Bhola even begged the scarecrow lady for forgiveness and made her his Queen again.
King Bhola punished his first 6 Queens. And he lived with his 7th wife, his two children, and his daughter in law. They lead a completely normal palace life, except it was a bit of a challenge to play hide and seek. Thanks to Astro Boy’s shining forehead it was really hard for him to hide effectively.
That’s all for now
Next Time
In the next episode, we’ll finally get into the main story of the Mahabharat. We’ve covered Shakuntala’s story before in Episode 37 – A Fishy Engagement, but her’s was a peripheral story.