The Fairy Magic 6p5w11

Charu Shukla Sahi

Illustrations by Marvin Paracuelles

Copyright © 2013 by Charu Shukla Sahi. 130424-SHUK

ISBN: Softcover 978-1-4836-4213-0 Ebook 978-1-4836-4214-7

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Rev. date: 07/17/2013

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Hello, dear one.

Today I will tell you a story that is more than eight hundred years old. This is the story when animals talked to kids like you and fairies played in the forest. Flowers smiled and clouds made caricatures for the travelers. This is a story of a common girl named Pari and her prince, Yuvraj.

The story begins in India, in the beautiful kingdom of Punjab. It was the most beautiful land in the entire world. Lush green mountains and sparkling blue rivers surrounded the land. It was said that whoever came to Punjab was mesmerized by its beauty and settled there forever. Most of the people were farmers. They were all happy in their occupation and lived together as one big family.

In the same kingdom lived a good farmer called Ramu. Ramu and his wife Lata had a vegetable farm. They made their living by selling vegetables in nearby villages. Ramu and Lata prayed every day for a child. Fairy god mother heard their prayer and decided to bless them.

Next day, when Ramu went to pick vegetables, fairy godmother appeared in front of him. She took him to an eggplant vine and showed an eggplant. This eggplant was peeping through the leaves, and Ramu could only see its small head. The fairy said, “Ramu, take this eggplant and prepare your supper with it. I will return again soon.” With this, fairy godmother disappeared. Ramu stepped near the vine to pick the eggplant. He removed the leaves and was surprised to see the biggest eggplant ever. It was bigger than a dinosaur’s egg. He somehow managed to carry it home.

When the sun started to set, they began supper preparations. After washing the eggplant, Lata picked up a knife to cut it when, suddenly, they heard a voice say, “Open me slowly, very gently.” They did not pay attention and stepped closer to the eggplant with a knife in hand. Once again, the voice said, “Open me slowly, very gently.” They thought that it was somebody playing prank and, hence, decided to eat it later.

The next day, again, when Ramu and his wife started cutting the eggplant, they heard the same voice say, “Open me slowly, very gently.” So Ramu decided to open it slowly as the voice instructed. When Ramu opened the eggplant, there was a glass shell inside it. They looked through the shell and saw a little girl inside it. The girl was wearing a beautiful purple gown and glowed. They were both overjoyed and thanked the fairy godmother for the baby.

They named the girl Pari. In Hindi, Pari means “fairy.” They loved Pari and provided her everything they could. They gave her the best education and taught her various instruments like piano, violin, and mouth organ. Pari loved playing instruments and played it often for her friends and family. As Pari grew up, her beauty enhanced. She was as fair as the moonlight, and her nature was as sweet as honey nectar. Her beauty was talked about in the entire land. Ramu and his wife were proud of their lovely daughter. She was an obedient daughter and helped them with their farm. Everyone in Punjab loved Pari as she was always helpful and encouraged people around her to do the right thing.

One day, prince Yuvraj of Punjab, lost his way and stopped to ask directions. He saw a girl playing with animals. It was Pari. The prince was taken by her beauty. He kept looking at her. He had never seen a more beautiful girl in his life. He asked Pari to show her the farm. Pari asked permission from her father to do so. They kept on talking for hours and hours while Pari showed the prince her farm. Prince Yuvraj fell in love with her. She cared for people and animals. She said the right thing and gave her opinions truthfully. She was humble and loving. Prince Yuvraj made up his mind to marry Pari.

Yuvraj went to Ramu and asked for Pari’s hand in marriage. Her parents were overjoyed. Everyone knew that the prince was a kind man. He helped farmers with their troubles all the time. Ramu readily agreed for the marriage. Pari and Yuvraj decided to marry on Christmas night. Preparations for the royal wedding started with everyone dancing and rejoicing for their loving prince and adorable Pari.

Two weeks before marriage, Pari suddenly became ill. She grew weak day by day. The prince came by daily with the best doctors and hakims, but it was of no help. Pari prayed every day and asked fairies to help her. Ramu and Lata did the same. Prince Yuvraj could not see Pari like that and sobbed bitterly. He prayed and cried for fairies’ to help.

One week before marriage, the fairy godmother appeared in front of the prince. She asked the prince to follow her. She took her to the eggplant vine and said, “My dear prince, I have seen over the days that you love Pari and will always keep her happy. Hence, I need to tell you a story that might save her” The prince sat on the ground and told the fairy that he would do anything for his beloved fiancée.

Pleased by his reply, the fairy began—“Many years back, when you were just born. In the deep forests, there lived a bad old magician called Khoja. He performed black magic and captured everything that he liked. Because of him, flowers never blossomed, and trees were always sad. Clouds never crossed the land, and rivers disappeared in the ground. All animals and birds ran away from Punjab.

During those years, your father and the neighboring land’s king, Tanveer, were best friends. They met sometimes and enjoyed each other’s company. One day, King Tanveer was traveling through the forest with his wife and a baby girl. It was said that the baby was born with healing powers. Her touch could heal any kind of illness. Khoja wanted to keep the baby girl so he would never die. With this bad motive, Khoja broke the king’s carriage and killed all his soldiers.

King Tanveer asked his wife to hide before the magician could find them. The king fought bravely but could not hold longer and died. At that time, I was trying to help a newborn eggplant to come out of the bud. The queen saw me and asked my help to save her child from Khoja. I decided to hide the baby in the eggplant with a little magic. Before I could complete the process of hiding baby, Khoja found us and snatched part of the baby’s soul.

I was able to save the baby, but Khoja killed the queen. I realized later that the baby’s healing powers were caught by Khoja. Khoja locked the soul and kept it in a well, guarded by a huge dragon. Khoja tried a lot to search the baby but failed and died soon because of his ill health. I decided to bring the baby out and gift it to Ramu and Lata. This baby, I have been telling you about is Pari. Pari needs to get part of her soul back to continue living her life.

Prince, you would have to go now if you really want to save Pari. The well is in the middle of the forest near the lake. This well emerges from the water on every full moon, which is tomorrow. You need to find the soul before the sun rises the next day. Also, Prince, you will have to go alone. The soul can be found by only the person who wishes to marry Pari.”

With this, fairy godmother disappeared.

Prince Yuvraj rode his horse and never stopped till he reached the lake. It took him almost a day and a half to reach it but still made it in time. He sat and waited. The moon came out and shone beautifully at the top of the lake. The well emerged from the water. Before Yuvraj could reach the well, a terrifying dragon came in front of him.

He looked ferocious and threw fireballs from his mouth. Although the dragon was powerful, prince did not give up. He fought and fought and finally slew the dragon. He had very little time left as the sun was about to rise. He was exhausted but somehow managed to dive in the well. He searched and found a big wooden box similar to what the fairy had described. The prince opened the box, but there was another box inside it. He opened that box and found another box inside it. He kept on opening boxes inside boxes. Finally when Prince reached the smallest box, he found Pari’s soul bright and splendid just like her.

Yuvraj was wounded, but he did not waste a single minute and rode back to give Pari her soul.

Pari became better and started glowing again. Pari thanked the prince and kissed his hands. To everyone’s surprise, all wounds started healing. Along with her soul, Pari got all her healing powers back.

All the fairies and loved ones attended the ceremony of their union on Christmas night. They got married with great pomp and show and lived happily ever after!