Once upon a time,
there was a jewellery merchant named Kumba lived in a town. He had an elder son
named Ratna and a younger daughter named Neela. Neela’s mother died during the
birth of Neela so Ratna hated his sister, thinking that, she is
the reason behind his mother’s death, but he never revealed it out. Regardless
of everything, Neela’s father loved her equal to his son, thinking that Neela
is his wife’s parting gift. Neela was a beautiful girl, who was born with a
birth mark on her left cheek. As she grown, the mark on her cheek also grown
along with her, soon it spread all over and occupied most of her left cheek up
to her neck. Soon people started talking about how hideous Neela looks and
everyone was afraid to reach her. She faced many humiliations wherever she
went. She bared all those humiliations for her family’s sake. Her only
motive was to take care of her father and brother. Ratna didn’t care much for
Neela as he already hates her, but her father was worried about Neela. Neela started
covering her face with “dhuppatta” (A
long cloth Indian woman wears on her head, which helps in covering their faces)
to hide her left cheek, on which she had a birth mark.
One day, Kumba’s friend came to his house along with his
daughter and asked Kumba that if Ratna could marry his daughter. Kumba was
very delighted to listen to his friend’s proposal and called Ratna, who was
resting in the next room. Ratna came out to attend his father and found a
beautiful young lady standing next an old man who was sitting in the chair.
Kumba explained the things to Ratna, soon after hearing his father’s words,
Ratna looked at that girl as if he wanted to know her opinion. The girl rolled
her eyes down, slightly nodding her head with a smile on her face. Then Ratna
also agreed for the marriage proposal. Neela, who was cooking in the kitchen,
was listening to their conversation and she felt very happy after hearing
positive answer from his brother. She came out of the kitchen with sweets
as she wanted to share the happiness with everyone. Kumba’s friend’s daughter
got scared of Neela’s appearance, as Neela approached close to her, she
screamed and covered her eyes, along with her face with her both hands. Neela
understood the situation and ran in to the kitchen as fast as she could. Kumba
told his friend that, it’s his younger daughter Neela. The look on Kumba’s
friend’s face has changed and he told to Kumba that, we will rethink of this
marriage proposal, will let you know soon and they left. Obviously everyone was
aware of what will be the answer.
Neela was crying silently in kitchen, Kumba was
stunned and sat as he was, in the chair without moving, then Ratna, who was
holding back for a longer time, started shouting that, i knew it, i knew it
from the beginning, she is nothing but a bad luck, first she killed my mother,
then brought humiliation to this family with her hideous looks and now, she
ruined my life completely. As long as she lives, i can never find peace. Kumba got angry after hearing such words from Ratna and yelled at him that,
how could you talk about your own sister like that? Neither she has anything to
do with your mother’s death, nor she has anything to do with her looks. It’s
all because of fate. Then Ratna said more aggressively that, decide today
father, either me or her and only of us is going to live under this roof. Then
Kumba shouted, shut up Ratna, just get out of the house for now and soon Ratna
left the house with anger. Hearing all the argument between her Brother and
Father, Neela ran out of the house from the backdoor, crying.
She ran to the Garden nearby her house, where her Mother was
buried. She collapsed in front of her Mother’s Grave helplessly and started crying
while looking at her mother’s name carved on the Grave. She started thinking
about all the humiliations of people and what hurt her the most were her brother’s
words. She couldn’t digest the hatred of her brother towards her. She came to a
conclusion that she should end her life, so that her father and brother would
live a normal happy life. Soon she stood up with the determination to end her
life and started walking towards the woods nearby their Garden. As she walked
close to the woods, she heard screams of a woman, calling for help. She ran
as fast as she could towards the woods, found a woman and tiger facing each
other in the woods. As the tiger was about to jump on the woman, Neela threw
the sand in the tiger’s eyes, grabbed the woman’s hand and started running out
of the woods. Neela dragged the woman to their Garden as fast as she could and
stopped at her Mother’s Grave. After settling down, the woman started
explaining how she ended up in the woods. The Woman said, I am Princess Mytra,
the only daughter of the King of this Kingdom. I came to visit the Lord Sri
Krishna’s temple in the Woods along with our maids and guards. We were attacked
by a group of buglers at the temple, all the guard’s were killed and Me, along
with my maids started running in to the woods to escape the buglers. Then i got
separated from my maids and before i notice i found myself lost in the woods. While
i was searching my way back to home, i came across the tiger, we just escaped
from.
After finishing her explanation, Mytra held Neel’s hands and
said, Thank you so much for saving my life. I own my life to you, please ask
for any reward you want, i will make sure that you will get that reward. Then
Neela said, oh dear Princess! It is our soul duty to protect our King and his
family, so i don’t want any reward from you. I am just happy that nothing
happened to you. But Princess Mytra insisted that Neela should ask for
something. Then Neela gave a good thought and asked Mytra, Dear Princess! I
have an elder brother named Ratna, who is very handsome and brave, if it is
possible, i want you to marry my brother, but only if you like, then only. The
Princess Mytra was stunned after hearing Neela but Mytra agreed to marry her
brother. Then Neela said, Dear princess! I want you to keep this matter between
you and me, i don’t want anyone else to know about this matter, especially my
brother. Princess Mytra said, my father, the King should know about this
incident, so except for King, i will not reveal this matter to anyone, then
Neela agreed. Neela escorted Princess Mytra to her palace, which is in the
middle of the Kingdom and said Good bye in front of the Palace main entrance.
Princess Mytra insisted Neela to come inside the palace and meet her Father,
but Neela said, it is getting dark and situation at my home is complicated so i
better hurry back to my home. Before their discussion was over, royal guards and
maids surrounded the Princess and rushed her inside the palace. The King came
running to his daughter in the hallway and held Mytra gently in his arms with
happy tears. The King took Mytra to her room and asked about the details,
princess Mytra explained everything to her father and the King agreed to the
Promise Mytra made to Neela. Neela reached home and her father was happy to see
her back. She asked about her brother Ratna, then Kumba said, he is not back
yet. She went to the kitchen silently and cooked meals, both Kumba and Neela
finished dinner and slept. Ratna came home late night and slept in his room. The
situation was still awkward among them.
The next day, King sent a royal messenger to the Kumba’s
house, asking his son Ratna to summon at royal palace immediately. Kumba got
tensed after hearing that and asked Ranta that, Did you do something wrong
yesterday in anger? Then Ratna replied, No father! I went to my friend’s place
yesterday and stayed there all day till night and came back home late night and
slept. Ranta followed the royal messenger with many doubts running in his mind,
soon they reached the royal palace. The messenger escorted Ratna to the King’s
hallway and left. The Ratna entered the room to find, King and his daughter
seating in the middle of the room. He reached King, bowed and asked, Oh dear
King! May i know the reason, why am i summoned here? The King told him, Dear
boy! I wanted you to marry my daughter, if you have no objections. Ratna got
really shocked and he thought he miss heard the King’s words. After few seconds
of silence, Ratna said, Oh Your Majesty! I have no problem in marrying princess
but there are many capable men in our kingdom and also many princes are willing
to marry our princess, so on which basis do you think i am suitable for
princess? The King smiled and said, it is my daughter’s wish to marry you. Now
Ratna got more shocked but he couldn’t dare to ask princess for the reason, as
he thought there will be plenty of time to ask if they were really to get
married. Ratna said, if that is princess’s wish, then i will respect it without
any further questioning. Ratna bowed again to the King and left the palace.
Ratna reached home and explained everything to the Kumba.
Even Kumba got surprised but there was nothing they could do to find out the
details. Neela who was hearing to their conversation, really felt happy that
the Princess kept her promise. After few days Ratna married Princess Mytra and
moved to the Palace. After their marriage, Ratna asked princess that why she
wanted to marry him. Then the princess replied that, oh dear husband! Please do
not ask me for the reason now, i will answer your question when the time comes.
Regardless of whatever the reason, i am your wife now, i love you and respect
you for whatever you are. Ratna was happy to hear her last words and said, Ok
dear! I will not bring up this topic, until you want to tell me, on your own. I
am just delighted to hear those last words from you, which are enough for me.
Even so, Kumba was happy that his son got married to the Princess,
still he was worried about Neela’s marriage. He started searching for the grooms
but no one was ready to marry hideous looking Neela and moreover humiliated her
and her father. As all his marriage trails for Neela failed, kumba got more
worry and ruined his health. Neela was extremely worried about her father’s
health so she called for her brother Ratna. Soon after receiving her message,
Ratna came to see his father along with his wife Princess Mytra. Ratna felt
really sad after seeing his father in a pathetic state in bed. Ratna told to
Kumba, oh father! Come with me to the palace, there are so many medical experts
in the palace. I will take good care of you. Then Kumba said, No son! I can’t
come with you until i find a groom for Neela. If i leave with you, who is going
to take care of her. Then Neela said, Don’t worry about me father, i will be
just fine, right now your health is important so please go to the palace with
brother. Then Kumba said, No dear! That will be very wrong, until i see you
happy, i can’t find the true happiness. After hearing those words from Kumba,
Ratna felt angry and said, Who would want to marry an ugly monster like her,
even it is for hundred years, i would doubt that if anyone will be willing to
marry her. She is the root of all our troubles, we have been through all these
humiliations because of her. Why don’t you just leave her to her Fate? Princess
Mytra and Kumba got extremely angry after hearing Ratna’s words. The Princess
is about to start talking, Kumba interfered and said, how could you say such
words about your own sister? It is so disgraceful to hear such words coming out
of your mouth, leave the house immediately and never come back. Ratna left in
anger and princess followed him silently while giving sympathetic looks to the
Neela who was standing in front of the kitchen door while crying.
Neela felt extremely sad after hearing such words from her
brother, who suppose to understand her pain and support her. She finally
convinced herself that, she is the reason behind all the problems. If she
doesn’t exist, her father would go live with her brother and will get fine
soon. While thinking all these things crying, she walked slowly to their backyard
and stopped in front of an old well. When she thought things would be fine
without her presence, without wasting a second, she jumped into the well. After
few seconds of jumping in to the well, she realised that, she was not suffering anymore
and she could breath under water. She kept on sinking deeper and deeper like
there was no end to it. After few
minutes, she felt like she fell on something huge and soft. Soon after that she
heard a loud scream like Oh God! Who are you? How dare you disgrace me like
this? She got scared hearing those loud screams and noticed a huge Shadow was approaching
her. She couldn’t see the picture of whoever approaching her properly because of
her teary swollen eyes. Soon the huge shadow approached her screaming with loud
voice and stopped at ones in front of her. Then the voice said, Oh God! It’s
gone. It doesn’t hurt anymore. I am so happy after all these years, i got rid of
it. She didn’t understand a thing but still she sat there as she was while wiping her tears. Then she found a hand was reaching out to her while saying, are
you hurt my dear? Here, take my hand and stand up. Neela held that hand and
stood up while covering her left cheek with dupatta and noticed so many people
around her gathered in a huge room. She looked at the man who gave the hand to
her surprisingly. The man looked at her and said, i am Naga, the Snake King,
ruler of underworld kingdom of snakes. Soon after hearing that, Neela pulled
her hand back and bowed to the King by saying, forgive me King Naga, i didn’t
mean to intrude but i don’t know how i ended up here and forgive me for falling
on you like that.
The King sent away all the guards who came rushing to the room after hearing King’s scream and said to Neela, No dear! You really helped
me. 12 years back i received a curse from a “Muni“ (Sage) for biting his son, who accidently stepped on me while
playing in the woods, i was a very short tempered back then. He cursed me to
have a big oral sore due to which i was unable to eat, speak and enjoy my life.
I was at the verge of death due to lack of nutrition and extreme pain. The
curse was haunting me for all these years until you fell on my head, due to which
the sore in my throat got ruptured and it doesn’t pain any more, Thanks to you
my dear. Please tell me, who are you? And how did you come to our kingdom? Neela
replied, Your Majesty! I am Neela from earth, i have nowhere to go so i wanted
to end my life and jumped into the well. Surprisingly i ended up here. Be Kind
enough to let me live in your kingdom, if it is not too much trouble for you. The
King said, oh dear! I am in your dept. You can happily live in our palace as
long as you want and called out for a maid, asked maid to escort Neela to her
room in the palace. Ever since then Neela started living in the palace and she
took care of King’s health as he was ill and weak. The King recovered soon in
her care.
The King has a son named Prince Mani, who was away from the palace,
went to attend royal duties in his father’s place. The Prince returned from his
royal duties in the night. While he is walking in the hallway, he saw a girl
standing in the balcony stretching her face out with closed eyes and feeling
the Moonlight on her face along with the cool breeze. The Prince couldn’t see
her properly so he was walking towards her but his path was blocked by his
father, who came rushing after hearing about Prince’s arrival. The King
embraced the Prince with Joy, the Prince was surprised to see his father healthy
again and asked details, the King explained everything to the Prince and said,
i will introduce Neela to you tomorrow, for now have some rest as you might be
tried from your journey. Regardless of whatever the story was, the Prince was
happy to see his father happy and healthy. When his father left, the Prince
looked at the balcony where Neela was standing but found her left already so the
Prince went to his room.
In the morning, The Prince went to see the King and found a
girl taking care of his father. He thought, it might be the same girl
that his father was talking about last night. The King noticed Prince’s arrival
and asked Prince to come near bed, as the Prince started walking towards the bed,
Neela moved away from the bed and stood in a corner of the room, bending her
face down and covering her face with dupatta. The King introduced Neela to the
Prince Mani, Neela looked at the Prince through her dupatta and bowed to him. The Prince said, Thank you so much for taking care of my father. Then Neela said, I should be the one to thank you for providing me shelter and talking care of me. After that Neela took permission from the King to leave and the King granted permission.
Neela left the room leaving Prince and King to have some time for their self. After
talking to his father, the Prince went to roam in the Kingdom as he hasn’t been
around for a long time. The Prince came back by night and again found that
girl standing in the balcony feeling the Moonlight on her face with her eyes
closed. This time the Prince approached her silently on her right and started
staring at the face of the girl, the Prince was mesmerized by her beauty which
was revealing by the moonlight falling on her face. Neela was a born beauty but
due to the mark on her left cheek, everyone found her to be an ugly girl and
the Prince looked at the right side of her face so he didn't know about the
birth mark on the other side of her face.
As Neela closed her eyes, she couldn’t
notice the Prince’s arrival. When she opened her eyes, she noticed that someone
was standing beside her and quickly covered her face with the dupatta. The
Prince then asked Neela, Who are you? What is your name? Your beauty is out of
this World, i was mesmerized by your beauty. The Prince couldn’t figure it out
that it was Neela because her face was covered with dupatta when King
introduced Neela to the Prince. Neela was so stunned after hearing those words
from the Prince, she didn’t know how to respond to his words, so she simply
said, i am Neela and rushed herself into the nearby room. Since she left, there
was nothing the Prince could do, so he stood in the balcony putting his both
hands on the rail, while looking at Moon, he murmured that, you are not only
kind hearted but also beautiful and smiled a little with joy.
The next morning, the Prince met the King and told him about
Neela, that he is in love with her and wants to marry her. The King was happy
to hear that and said, he would talk to Neela about it. But the Prince said, i want to win her heart first, after her acceptance only i will marry
her. The King agreed to the Prince’s request. The Prince left his father’s
room, as he couldn’t find Neela in his father’s room, his eyes started searching
for Neela. Soon he found Neela, who was cleaning the window in the hallway.
As he saw her side face, he could figure out that, it was Neela. The Prince walked
close to her and called her name. Soon after hearing Prince’s voice, Neela got
tensed and in a jiffy, she covered her face and turned around. The Prince
walked a little close to her and said, you have done so much for us. We can’t
thank you enough. As my Mother passed away, all i have got was my father and i
was worried about his sickness, i thought i was going to lose him too but he got
cured because of you. You are not only kind hearted but also beautiful, you
have brought the peace and joy back in our lives, so if you don’t have any
objections, i want to marry you.
Neela got shocked after hearing those words from Prince,
after few seconds, she recovered from her shock and said, oh Prince! I am so
honoured to hear such words from you, even i can’t thank you guys enough for taking care of me but i can’t accept the marriage proposal.
The Prince asked surprisingly, May i know the reason for rejecting my proposal?
Then Neela replied that, your highness! I am not worthy of a Prince like you and
also i am not what you think i am, when you said, beautiful, you might have
mistook me with someone else. Then the Prince said, it was not a
misunderstanding my dear! I have seen you under the beautiful Moonlight. Then she
replied that, forgive me Prince, i think you saw a different girl. Then the Prince
insisted on showing her face to him so that he could confirm. As he stepped
towards her and tried to remove dupatta covering her face, Neela got scared, in
tension she slapped Prince’s hand away and said, you have no rights to force me
then she ran away from that place as fast as possible.
After hearing those words from Neela, the Prince felt
extremely sad and didn’t feel like staying in the palace anymore. So the Prince
went to meet his father in the next day and found Neela in his father’s room.
As Neela noticed Prince’s arrival, she left the room silently. Then the Prince said
to King that he wants to leave the palace for few days. The King got surprised
hearing Prince's words and asked, what is the problem son? You were so happy till
yesterday. What went wrong? Is it about Neela? The Prince looked down with sad
face, without replying to the King. The King understood the situation and got
angry. The King screamed Neela’s name in anger. The Neela , who was in the next
room, rushed to the King’s room. The Prince tried to calm his father down but the
King was extremely angry and started yelling at Neela, i took care of you like
a family member and this is how you repay me, by breaking my son’s heart? What is
wrong with my son? Why did you reject him? Neela didn’t say anything, just
stood there crying silently. Then the King got angrier and said, never show your face to me again and left the room. The Prince approached Neela, apologised for his father’s actions and said that, i will be leaving the palace for a
while.
When he was about to walk away, Neela held Prince’s hand
crying, while still looking down, she said that, when the King introduced you
to me, I have fallen in love with you, the moment i saw you. I was holding back
because i am not as beautiful as you think i am. You saw only half of my face,
rest of the face is hideous. The Prince was stunned after hearing her
confession, soon he recovered and said, oh dear! To say the truth, i have loved
your kind heart more than your appearance so let me see your full face. Neela
left the Prince’s hand and stood silently in front of the Prince, as if he has
given permission to take off her dupatta. The Prince pulled her dupatta up
slowly while looking at her face. He found that, her left cheek was covered with
a mark up to the neck. He put his hand under her chin and lifted her face up
saying, Is it what you kept on saying hideous? I don’t find anything hideous
about you my dear, you are beautiful in and out. Neela embraced the Prince with
Pain and Joy.
Meanwhile the King returned to his room, found Neela and
Prince embracing each other. He felt very happy, he entered the room saying,
what happened in my absence? Did i miss something? They both unhanded each other
as they heard King’s voice. The Prince held his father with joy and explained
the things happened in his absence. The King was happy, finally they accepted each
other. Then the King asked Neela to show her full face to him, Neela did as
King Said. The King took a closer look at her face and amazed to notice a snake
like mark on her face. The King started shouting with joy, she is back. She has
come back for us. The Prince didn’t understand his father’s words. The Prince
asked for the explanation, then the King said, in our forefathers, an Empress
was born with the snake mark, who was blessed with extreme power and brought peace
to our clan. Neela seems to be the reincarnation of that Empress and that
explains how she ended up in our world, otherwise normal people cannot enter
our world just like that. The King rushed to the library, both Neela and Prince
followed him. The King took out a book, which was about the Empress and started
reading about her loud. After when he finished her story, he found an enchantment
in the last page of the book. He asked Neela to read those enchantments.
As Neela finished up reading those enchantments, a strange green
light came out of those words in the book and entered her body. Soon after
that Neela felt new power inside her, she just closed her eyes subconsciously
and murmured some enchantments, soon the mark on her face disappeared. The King
and Prince were surprised to notice it. When she opened her eyes, Prince told
that, the mark on your face has disappeared, how did you do that? Neela replied
that, a voice in her head told her to murmur those enchantments to hide the
mark. As her mark was gone, Neela’s true beauty was revealed. Soon after the
incident, the Prince and Neela got married. Neela was worried about her father
so, she asked King to give permission to visit her father. The King
accepted and asked Prince to escort her to the earth and to her father.
Meanwhile, ever since Neela disappeared, Ratna kept on
asking his father to come live with them in the palace but Kumba rejected his
offer every time. As it was Ratna’s son’s birthday, Ranta went to meet his
father along with his wife Mytra and Son. Ratna asked his father to come to the
palace to live with them again but Kumba rejected his offer again saying that,
he needs to be at home, if in case Neela returns. Ratna got sick of listening those words and started shouting that, she is dead. She is no more and it is
a good thing that she is gone, our problems are solved, without her presence
around us. The Kumba got angry and when he was about to scold his son, he was
interrupted by Princess Mytra, how could you talk about your own sister like
that? She is the reason we are married and you are leading such luxury life.
Both Kumba and Ratna got surprised listening princess words. The Princess continued
explaining whatever happened in the past and then she said, since Neela took
promise from me, i kept it hidden but now she is gone and i don’t want my husband
to hate her and bad mouth her.
After hearing Princess’s words, Ratna felt extremely ashamed
of his actions and collapsed on the floor thinking how harshly he hurt his sister
but still she cared a lot for him. He was crying on floor apologising to his sister
for whatever he has done.
After few minutes, Neela and Prince Mani arrived
Neela’s home and found everyone in sad state. Neela rushed to her brother’s
side who was crying on the floor and asked, oh brother! What happened? Why are
you crying? Ratna looked at her surprisingly and asked, are you Neela? Neela
replied, yes brother! Its me. Ratna held Neela’s both hands and started
apologising to her while still crying. Neela said, no brother! Don’t say that.
Whatever might happen, we will still be brother and sister. I never hated you
for once, please do not cry anymore. Ratna stood up while wiping his tears and
asked about the man who came along with Neela. Neela explained everything to her
father and brother. Everyone felt happy for Neela, who found her happiness and
a place where she belongs. As all the misunderstandings got cleared, Ratna took
his father to the palace to stay with him, Neela went back to the Snake’s
Kingdom with Prince Mani and lived happily ever after.
Moral: Always do Good no matter what, it will definitely come
back to you eventually.
