Hello, and welcome to stories from India, a podcast where we talk about myths, legends, and folktales from India. I’m your host Narada Muni, and I’m a mythological character myself.
I have the gift of eternal life, and knowledge of the past, the present, and the future. By profession, I’m a traveling musician and storyteller, so the way I’m doing my job is by podcast.
Today’s episode is a story set in Ancient India long before things like Uber and Amazon, but also before essentials like Doctors. And yet, somehow they had mastered teleportation!
Obviously this is fiction. Unlike mythology, which I can often provide an eyewitness account of, today’s story is a folk tale, and therefore completely unreal.
This is a folk tale from the western Indian state of Gujrat. So let’s jump in.
Imagine a dark forest at midnight! Some wolves howled nearby. Bats flew overhead. The forest floor was full of creepy crawlies and slithering serpents. This was no place for a princess! Especially a princess with no armor, weapons, no flashlight or phone. She had on rich clothes and shiny jewelry. But those wouldn’t help against the wolves and lions and tigers and bears. If anything, her shiny jewerly and clothes were somehow attracting bugs, and probably larger creatures.
Princess Chiki had no choice, she stumbled on going in a direction that she thought would get her to safety. Only, she was headed the wrong way, and kept going deeper and deeper into the forest!
How had she ended up in this state? Just a few hours ago her world had been completely different. She had been at the King’s palace. She was the King’s favorite daughter. Her six sisters may not have been able exactly happy with that, but that didn’t stop them from being super nice to her. At least on the surface.
It all started to go south at the dinner table, a frequent battleground that has split families apart. That’s what happened in this case. The King had this habit of talking about philosophical questions. Yesterday’s discussion had been about what reality meant – were they all real people or just characters in a story that would be retold as a podcast episode centuries from now or were they all a simulation in the Matrix?
Today’s question could have had a boolean answer.
“Tell me, my children” he said “what is the reason for your prosperity? Is it because of my your own fate? Or is it because of mine?”
When the King whom you owe everything that you have in life asks you a question like that, it might be unwise to credit your own luck and not his. Six daughters were with the program. Chiki was not.
She said “Obviously, it’s my own fate, my own luck. Sure you have your Kingdom, your riches, this palace, but if I wasn’t also lucky I wouldn’t be born your daughter. So it’s my luck that’s responsible for my prosperity, my happiness and not yours”
That absolutely infuriated the King. Even though he should have seen it coming, asking a question like that.
“Obviously you didn’t hear me clearly.” he said to Chiki. “Must have been the disturbing sounds of my golden cutlery being used to eat my food off of my table in my palace. So let me ask again am I … I mean is my luck responsible for your happiness or is it yours?”
One of the sisters tried to defuse the situation – “What is luck after all?” she asked “Isn’t it all just a big collective stack of Chance and Community Chest cards that all humans are drawing from?”
But that wasn’t working here. The King signaled for silence, and summoned one of his guards – “Take Chiki here to Room 101” he said. “Room 101” was quite like in the George Orwell novel “1984” but it wasn’t an actual room. It was the dark forest where we saw Chiki stumbling at the start of the story.
That’s how she had ended up here. Now there was at least a few more hours of night before daylight. Assuming she could even tell the difference in this dark forest with its super thick canopy. Somehow she found a cave. She proceeded to check it out carefully, hoping there were no tigers here. She definitely wanted to avoid meeting one. Skilled outdoorswoman that she was, she wasn’t sure she could avoid hurting one if she ran into it. And her Project Tiger sponsors might not take kindly to that. With a wince she realized they would probably drop her as their ambassador. Like everything else, that project was funded by her father.
But there were no tigers. Or lions. Or bears. That cave became her temporary home as she built a better hut for herself. She had contemplated returning to civilization, but decided it wasnt worth it. It seemed a lot more peaceful out here.
Meanwhile, back at the palace, the King had a question for his remaining daughters. And this wasn’t a philosophical one. “I’m off on a work trip tomorrow. I’m sailing to the neighboring Kingdom of Maralago. What would you like me to get you?”
Now that they had seen what could happen to them if they provided a non-cookie cutter response, his six daughters had firmly stereotypical answers ready for all such situations. They asked for diamonds, rubies, emeralds and gold and so on.
But as the King was attempting to cast off, his ship would not leave the dock!
Every engineer and sailor swore they couldn’t explain it. The wind was full, the tide was high, other boats were casting off, no problem. And yes, they had definitely raised the anchor.
“Maybe put the anchor back in the water and raise it again and see if it helps?” asked one minister, foreshadowing a long tradition of rebooting that our civilization now takes for granted.
“Have you tried kicking the tires?” asked another minister.
“Landlubber.” mumbled a third. “Maybe all it needs is a jump start” said a third.
But it wasn’t any of those things.
When physics fails to provide an explanation, people are quick to turn to metaphysics. The Royal Astrologers were brought in. They had a ready answer.
“Your majesty, it’s because you haven’t asked all your daughters what to bring back for them”.
Only then did the King remember “Oh yes, that girl what was her name? Kichi? Chini? Oh got it, Chiki. She’s probably passed on from this world, eaten by wild animals I guess”
“No, your majesty. She’s alive. This Ship-holding spell only applies to living people. She’s certainly around”
The King was annoyed that Chiki was delaying his important voyage. But he sent a soldier to locate her in the vicinity of Room 101 and to ask her what she wanted. But to hurry.
The soldier did hurry. He was smart though, so rather than attempting to find her in the vast forest, he went straight to the Post office. The postman was glad to draw him a map. Would the soldier mind asking her to locate somewhere more sensible? He had to make the terrible journey once a week just to deliver Chiki her magazines and letters. The soldier did mind, but he didnt even bother to explain. He dashed off to Chiki’s house. He was surprised that it wasn’t as terrible a place as he had imagined.
“Princess Chiki, the King is asking what you’d like him to get for you from Maralago!”
Unfortunately at that very moment Chiki was in the shower. All she heard was some mumbling.
She shouted “Sabar!” which is a word that means “wait”. Basically she was telling the soldier to be patient!
But the soldier thinking that’s what she wanted rushed back. Sure he hadn’t heard of any object called “Sabar” before. He didn’t understand half the time what these royals spoke about. But it was probably a new designer line of handbags or maybe a new make of some car or something. He rushed back to the King and gave him the message. Chiki wanted Sabar.
The King had no idea either, but he didn’t really care anymore. The boat began moving finally! The King was wondering but not about what Sabar meant, but that his astrologers had finally made a prediction that had actually come to pass! He decided he would give them the extra funding they had been asking for.
He completely forgot about “Sabar” and immersed himself in having a good time at Maralago. It involved plenty of golfing of course. He did not forget to get his six daughters all of their gifts of course.
And so it was that when he attempted to sail back, the ship again would not move.
This time, he didn’t need an astrologer to tell him why it was stuck.
He commissioned his soldiers to go fetch “Sabar”, whatever that was.
While the King was fuming about having to continue to pay expensive docking fees at this harbor, they went far and wide searching for Sabar.
One of them finally found an old lady who claimed that she had a stone in her garden. It had been in her family for generations. They had always called it the Sabar stone.
The soldier quickly picked up the Stone, gave her a gold coin and began making off with the Stone. Her eyes wide at the gold coin for it. She hastily added, “Wait, wait! I also have a bridge to sell you. It’s called the Sabar bridge”
But that did not work. A single Sabar was all that the King had promised. That’s all Chiki would be getting.
When the soldier returned with the stone, the Ship’s charm deactivated the holding mechanism and they were able to sail away, back to their kingdom.
Technically, now that they were sailing, the King could have just tossed the stone overboard. But there was a bit of a risk. What if they stalled in the middle of the Ocean? He decided – no, it’s best to see this through. So the Sabar stone was delivered to Chiki. And by a soldier. The King did not want to rely on his own Postal Service for such an important task that had the potential to cripple pretty much anything if not carried out.
The soldier who had previously visited her arrived with the Stone and threw it at her and laughed and said – “Here’s your Sabar. Maybe you can use it to wash your clothes” and left.
Chiki was stunned. This was annoying. A few weeks ago, someone had pranked her by knocking on the door right when she was in shower and disappearing by the time she hurried out to open the door.
And now, this guy had dropped a stone at her.
But this was no ordinary neighborhood kid pulling a prank. He was a soldier in her father’s army.
This was probably a gift from her father. She didn’t understand why it was a stone, but there must be something special about it.
She did wash her clothes on this stone. The soldier had suggested it. But this was a strange stone. Clearly it had weathered a lot of the elements having lived in the old lady’s garden for generations. Yet, when Chiki washed her clothes on it, it rapidly withered away. Maybe it was the brand of soap she was using. She scrubbed the stone a bit with it and pretty soon, it crumbled. And – this was extremely weird there was a fan inside it!
Not an electrical fan, but the kind of little folding hand-operated fan that’s often seen during the summer in stadiums around the world in tropical countries.
Naturally she was thankful for this gift. If you have experienced Indian summers, you can surely see this was a very practical gift.
She opened it and gave it a wave. The moment she did there was a flash and a puff of smoke!
“Genie!” she said. “Yay! I have dreamt of this my whole life. I know exactly what to wish for to get around all of the provisos and limitations”
But the person who appeared out of all the smoke was no Genie. He… was a Prince!
“I’m no Genie. I’m Prince Sabar” he said. “I’m the man of the fan”
She had done some research in the internet and found the twitter feed of the old woman in Maralago who claimed to have made a huge profit out of the apparently useless Sabar stone that had been in her family for generations.
“But the fan’s been inside the stone for generations. How old are you?”
“I don’t really know how that works.” said Prince Sabar. I think it’s the name. The previous Prince Sabar I learnt from those who summoned me was just some random dude in Australia. It’s a luck thing.”
“So how does this work?” she asked. “Have I won a prize? What am I getting out of this?”
“I told you I’m no genie. I don’t do the wish thing. But I definitely have to obey your summons. Every time you wave that fan up I have to appear. When you wave it downwards, I’ll go back. That’s it. It’s a cool party trick but nothing more.”
She was disappointed, but the two got to talking. And occasionally Sabar would come over for Tea and cookies. Over time, they confided in each other. Eventually they became friends, and then more!
With time, Chiki’s lifestyle began to improve. Sabar had had a palace constructed for her right there. Bit by bit, Sabar would bring over people, architects, provisions with him everytime he visited. Which was often.
Sabar continued to lead a double life. Staying in the role of Prince back in his home country and here, as Chiki’s fiance.
I don’t know why he didn’t just take her back with him to his palace, or why he didn’t introduce her to his family and all. If he had a lot of the things that were to follow could have been avoided.
Well, back in Chiki’s father’s palace lots of rumors were floating around about the lavish palace that Chiki lived in. Her sisters had to see it for themselves. So they sneaked off into the forest. With proper equipment of course. And with a guide.
They arrived when Sabar wasn’t around. But Chiki received them enthusiastically!
Sabar was a great companion, but he was gone most of the time. And here were her sisters whom she had grown up with. She told them the truth about everything.
It may prove her point about her own luck being responsible for her current happiness. But that was not going to go well with their father, as one sister pointed out. He would say he was the one who had got her the Sabar stone in the first place.
But they left it at that. Chiki was thrilled to have met her sisters after a long time. In her excitement she failed to notice that they had poisoned Sabar’s coffee cup.
When Sabar returned the sisters were already gone. After hearing that the sisters had visited Chiki, he was uneasy. This wasn’t just an ordinary tension people sometimes have with their in-laws. He was not happy about how her sisters had not lifted a finger to stop Chiki’s expulsion from the palace, or how they had not worked harder to change their father’s mind.
He didn’t say much though. He started drinking coffee. A few sips in, the effect of the poison hit him and he screamed at Chiki.
“Help me! No. wait. Don’t help me. Stay away from me. I’m never returning to you. This is all your sisters’ doing. They poisoned my coffee. Wave your fan quickly. Send me back. Do it now!”
Chiki acted quickly. She did wave the fan and Sabar disappeared. That had been the right thing to do. Here in the dark forest, an ambulance and doctors were miles away. But probably not in Sabar’s palace.
She should have gone with him though. She dared not summon him back. The doctors in Sabar’s palace might find it hard to treat him if he kept disappearing off the operating table.
She waited a week, anxiously. With trepidation she waved her fan. But no one appeared.
Her mood darkened further as she examined the possibilities. Could it be Sabar had passed away? Why then did the next Sabar in line not appear? Maybe he was still alive but found a way to anchor himself back in his Kingdom. Yes that must be it.
She must find it. But wait a minute. She realized with a shock that she did not even know the name of his Kingdom, or anything about him. Come to think of it, there were a lot of red flags here. She hadn’t seen a single photo of his other life. He hadn’t referred to anyone else in his Kingdom by name. He didn’t mention the capital, the neighbors, no clues about flora or fauna in his home kingdom. Was he even a prince? Was he just an unemployed guy living out of his parents’ basement? But no, he had brought back enough stuff to construct the palace.
And there couldn’t have been other summoning fans or she would have observed him disappearing. So he had been faithful. Maybe.
Well she had to find out. And if he was true to her, she would find a way to help him.
She set out. She charted a course to all the known kingdoms. She would travel outwards through the neighboring Kingdoms in a spiral and ask around for a Prince Sabar. Assuming that was his name. Or maybe just a guy who had been poisoned. A doctor’s disguise might help. Which basically meant pretending to be a man. A female doctor was unheard of and more importantly would not be believed by anyone.
And so began her long journey. For many months, she had no luck. No one had ever heard of a sick Prince or a Prince Sabar.
One day, tired and resting under a tree, Chiki was startled by some noises. She calmed herself when she realized it was just a couple of birds talking. Wait… what?! Birds talking and she could understand them!
Well there’s a lot of unexplained stuff in this story, like the ship that would not Sail and the backstory of the Stone. “So what’s one more mystery?” she asked herself.
One of the birds said to the other: “Have you heard about Prince Sabar? Poor guy is lying in a bed, rapidly weakening from the poison”
“Haven’t the doctors helped?” asked the other exposition bird.
“Nope. They don’t have the right medicine. There’s only one kind of medicine that can possibly work. And that is my ….ahem… droppings.”
“Ewww. Disgusting” said the other bird
“It’s true. Just take my word for it. I wish I was a human doctor looking fellow like that guy sleeping down there. I could then just collect some of of my droppings which I left on the third branch of this tree, make them into a paste and then apply it to the Prince’s body. That will instantly heal him.”
“But how will a doctor get to Sabar’s palace?” asked the other bird.
“It’s actually not that far now. From here, it’s 30 miles west as people walk. Assuming they walk in a straight line. Which I’m pretty sure they don’t. Anyway. There’s one raging river that the doctor has to cross. There are no bridges. But all a hypothetical doctor needs is the bark of this very tree. The bark is magic. He just has to make shoes out of them. Then he can walk across the river. A hypothetical doctor should be able to make shoes. It’s not hard. Even someone like the guy sleeping down there”
And the birds flew off.
Being handed the solution on a silver platter that way, Chiki quickly made her shoes and headed in the direction of Sabar’s palace. And she was sure to collect the bird’s droppings into an ointment jar.
When Chiki finally got to Sabar’s kingdom, it seemed overrun with people needing help. Apparently, all of the Kingdom’s doctors were focused on Sabar alone, without success.
They spotted Chiki and rushed to her “Doctor! Doctor! I need your help”
But Chiki said she was a Doctor who specialized only in treating poisoned Princes.
The crowd let out a collective disappointed groan. Someone mumbled about the Hippocratic oath, but it was easy to weasel out of that one given the Oath had not been invited yet.
She got to the Palace and volunteered her services. Her joy at being able to see Sabar’s face quickly turned into worry at how weak he had become. She figured she was here in the nick of time. Though who knew? Maybe a real doctor would.
She did note that he had tied himself to the bedpost to anchor himself in his own kingdom. That’s why he had not appeared when she waved the fan.
She was careful not to reveal her identity or her gender. She began applying the ointment. Everyone complained about it’s awful smell! But that did not stop them from hugging the prince when he jumped up full of energy fully healed.
Sabar’s parents and Sabar himself were ecstatic. They wanted to reward this Doctor half their kingdom. But strangely, all the doctor asked for was the Prince’s personal ring, and his personal hat and scarf.
An odd choice, but no one complained. This was a bargain.
Chiki was ecstatic, but she decided not to reveal herself just yet. This should be done on home turf, she thought.
She rushed back home, changed into her finest clothes, and summoned Sabar with her fan.
He did appear, but he was not smiling.
“Why did you call me here? So your sisters can poison me again?” he asked rudely.
“Nope. I’ll have nothing more to do with them. I’m here to hear how you’re doing”
“I’ve survived. No thanks to you. Lucky for me, a doctor happened to have the cure.”
“Well I hope you paid him well then” said Chiki.
“No. All he wanted was my ring, my hat and my scarf” replied Sabar.
“This ring? This hat? This scarf?” she asked, pulling the items from behind her back.
Sabar was obviously shocked. He heard the whole story from her. The two reconciled and decided to move to Sabar’s kingdom.
They wedding was a big deal! And everyone was invited! Including Chiki’s father.
She had clearly told Sabar she would have nothing more to do with her sisters. Maybe that’s why they weren’t invited.
When when they arrived, somehow despite everything, Chiki actually reconciled with her father.
That’s where the story ends. I have a serious problem with the ending, which I’ll get to in a second.
Some notes on the show
The original folk tale is titled Prince Sabar, and does not even name the Princess. That, in my opinion is a terrible omission given the story is of Chiki, and not of Sabar. But, hey what do you expect from a patriarchal society.
So I gave her the name Chiki, kind of a cheeky way to abbreviate her pretend profession: that of a doctor, or Chikitsak as it is called in Hindi.
The original story also had the very inexplicable scene of Chiki begging her father for forgiveness at the conclusion of the story. A moment that I don’t understand at all. To be honest, when I first read the story I was expecting exactly the opposite to happen. So I left that part vague. Also, Chiki and her father may have reconciled but they did not actually reconcile on whose luck was responsible for her happiness.
There are elements of the story that we’ve sort of seen before. The six jealous co-Queens tricking a Queen into annoying the King in Episode 57 – Astro Boy – Part 1 and Episode 58 – Astro Boy – Part 2. In today’s case, the outcome of that action was more than just annoyance. But it did end up with the King and Queen separating.
Another example is the example of birds talking and the snakes in Episode 44 – Hari Pot-Breaker – Part 1 and Episode 45 – Hari Pot-Breaker Part 2.
In today’s story the fate of the evil sisters is unclear. Yeah, if you’re the daughter of the King, I suppose you can get away with pretty much anything – poisoning your brother in law, registering patents in foreign countries in exchange for policy decisions, marketing on behalf of your father’s private enterprises when holding public office.
In the original story they did more than just poison Sabar. But I’ve skipped those parts to keep the story mild and avoid giving you a nightmare.
That’s all for now.
Next Time
In the next episode, we’re back to the Mahabharat! We’ll see what happened after Bheeshma’s promise. And how Emperor Shantanu’s bloodline seemed to have one problem after another.
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I’ll see you next time!