Congratulations !
You have been awarded points.
Thank you for !
- Story Listed as: Fiction For Adults
- Theme: Drama / Human Interest
- Subject: Fantasy / Dreams / Wishes
- Published: 10/09/2013
Once upon a time there was a king. The king was very fond of painting and possessed quite a good skill at it. He was brave, fair and kind king. But he had a weakness and he always wished if he could get rid of it. He had extreme attachment to things that he had in his life; living or dead. That attachment always burdened him and he had no control over it. He never shared it with anyone but secretly he wished if he could free himself from this slavery.
He had one wife. She was pretty, charming and naughty and was a favorite of the king. Whenever the king used to get free from daily affairs of his kingdom, he would get into his painting room and paint. The queen used to play around in the same room while the king used to paint his imagination on the canvass. The queen used to create an atmosphere of happiness and joy around him. The room had a huge window with carved golden frame and blue velvet curtains with frills made from gold threads from which the sunlight used to filter into the room. At times the king would look out of the window and watch over his beautiful kingdom with tenderness and satisfaction.
One day a very famous and profound sage came down to the kingdom after many years of travelling and attaining enlightenment. The king welcomed him in his darbar with royal courtship and respect. He was all ears to listen to sage’s profound words of wisdom. The sage offered him a bag made of cloth that was filled with something heavy inside it. The king asked the sage what is it?
The sage replied “ you are a great king and I have heard stories of your righteousness and wit all across the kingdom. I have travelled many mystical places and have met extremely profound people who told me about the mystical flowers growing in a very mystic place atop a hill. I couldn’t keep my curiosity and went around looking for these flowers. This bag contains bottles. These bottles are filled with different colors made from these mystical flowers those I plucked personally from all over the world. I spent my entire life looking for these mystical flowers and I faced many dangers, walked into forbidden jungles, climbed up to the greatest mountains to collect them and dedicated myself to churn them with my sacred slokas. These colors are made from those flowers. I know about your great mastery at creating wonderful paintings and I wish to offer you this bag as a token of my visit to you. But remember one thing; nobody should see the painting made from these colors. It’s only for the master to witness the profound colors contained in these bottles.”
The sage then looked up at the king and asked: “Would you like to accept these precious and profound colors my king?”
The king stared at the bag of colors for a long time. He was overwhelmed by sage’s words and thanked the sage for such a precious gift. He made arrangements for his stay in his palace and offered him to stay there as long as he wished.
The king was excited to go back to his room and paint with these newly acquired mystical colors. The day passed as usual and the king was back to his room. His queen who used to visit him after his kingly affairs of the day was barred from entering the room.
The king arranged for a blank canvass, which was as huge as the entire wall of his room. The huge window to the left was filtering red and orange colors of the sunset into the room. The king laid down the bottles on the table next to his canvass and arranged all the brushes next to them. He began painting on the canvass with no clear thought in his mind. Then all of sudden an impulse of imagination ran through his spine and flashes of trees and mountains began to fill his mind. He lifted the brush in his hand and the moment he dipped his brush into the color bottle he felt a sudden lightness in his entire body. The painting began to take shape. His strokes began creating shapes of trees on the canvass. Suddenly he felt that he is not drawing this picture. His hands were getting direction from some force on which he has no control over. It felt to him as if he and the brush had become the same. He could feel the texture of the canvass cloth at the tip of his finger where it touched the wooden back of the brush and he didn’t need to apply any pressure to change the direction of his strokes. The brush was on its own creating the painting. By the time it was dark outside the window; the painting was half complete. He decided to finish the rest of it tomorrow and kept the brush aside on the table. His whole body was filled with thrill and joy to experience such lightness of being. He stood still gazing the painting for a long time. It looked like a jungle but not anything he had ever seen before. But still he felt as if he knows the jungle, its ways, its trees and the whole map seemed etched somewhere in his mind.
It was a strange experience but he dismissed the thought as just a flight of fancy of his mind. He covered the painting with a thin silk cloth and instructed the guards on the way out to not let anyone inside the room without his permission. He went to his room to sleep.
The queen got up around midnight with restlessness in her body. She tried to sleep but she couldn’t go back to sleep. She rose from her bed and moved out of the room for a stroll. Her anklets were creating melody in the air as she walked into the corridor of the palace. The whole palace was silent. Only the patches of moonlight falling on the floor and walls seem to be making silent sounds. The queen slowly started walking towards the king’s painting room. Her heart filled with excitement and thrill. She had heard the story from her lady servant about the mystical sage and his gift to the king and couldn’t resist the temptation to witness those mystical colors.
The anklets melody woke up the king as she passed by his room. He instantly recognized the beautiful sound of those anklets and the direction it’s coming from. He swung the sheet off his body and got up from his bed. He knew the nature of curious little queen and got worried. As he walked out of his door and turned to look towards his painting room. He saw the queen standing outside the open doors of his painting room. His heart got filled with fear from sage’s warning. Before he could react the queen has already disappeared into the room through those huge heavily carved wooden doors. The king understood the urgency of the situation and jumped towards the room. His each step was feeling ten times its weight. The dozing guards got up with a jolt hearing the footsteps. The king jumped inside the room. His breath stopped and his whole body froze with fear to see what was in front of his eyes.
The silk cloth was lying on the floor helplessly and was shining with a soft white glow in the moonlight. The entire room was dark and the moonlight was creating a silhouette of the tall beautiful queen with white silver outline. The queen was standing frozen in front of the half painted canvass looking straight into the jungle.
The king slowly walked towards the queen. The queen’s eyes were looking straight at the canvass without acknowledging the king. There was an eerie silence in the room. The only sound was coming from outside of air brushing with the leaves of the trees in the garden of the palace. The moonlight was the only source of light. The king stood right in front of the queen but she was looking passed through him. He felt as if he was transparent and the queen was still looking at the painting. He tried to wake her up from what seemed like a trance state. He immediately called upon the guards and asked for all the doctors in his kingdom.
The doctors gathered around the queen who was lying on a beautiful golden bed with silk bedding. The bedding had beautiful purple flowers made from fine silk thread and golden wires. The king closed the eyes of the queen gently. She was still breathing but her whole body had no movement of any kind. The queen looked beautiful in her green golden sari and blue blouse with milky skin glowing white in the moonlight. The precious stones of the necklace the king gifted her were sparkling and the anklet lying motionless in the feet.
The king consulted with the doctors feverishly. Nobody had come to any conclusion so far. After many hours passed and the doctors still had no clue about what had happened to the queen that the king asked for the sage. The guards went rushing to the sage’s room and narrated the whole episode to him. The sage got up immediately and rushed to the palace.
“Oh dear king, I warned you about the mystical powers of these colors” the sage said with concern.
“What can be done now respected sage? I love my queen more than anything else in this world and I would do anything to get her back”. said the king.
“We need to talk in solitude my king” said the sage.
“Solitude!” the king announced.
Everyone left the room murmuring and soon the voices died behind the heavy wooden doors as the king closed them behind him.
“You need to finish the painting my great king” said the sage.
“I don’t understand” said the king.
“The queen can only be awakened if someone drops the juice of The Mystical Purple Flower in her mouth” said the sage.
“Where is this Mystical Purple Flower sage?”
The sage turned towards the unfinished painting which was covered with the silk cloth.
“My king, the painting will tell you that” said the sage.
“how?! And what this painting has got to do with the queen? And how will the painting show me where is this Mystical Purple Flower is?”
“It will, my great king.” The sage said with soothing tone. “The moment you will finish it”.
The sage stood in front of the king. The king looked into his eyes and he realized that the sage knew something he didn’t. The king laid all his faith in sage and requested him to stay in his kingdom until he had solved this mystery.
The king began painting at the first orange light of the morning. The jungle was taking shape. He started feeling more and more stronger the sense of knowing the jungle. He knew there is something mystic lying in this entire situation. By the time it was evening his hand was finishing the last stroke of painting. The sense of finish had arrived in his mind. The painting was complete.
He turned to his left towards the table where he kept all the colors. His queen was lying on the golden bed glowing beautifully in the evening sun. His heart filled with love and care for his wife as he turned his eyes to the window. Outside lied a beautiful golden city shining in the lights of the evening sun. He moved slowly to his table and kept his brush gently next to the purple color bottle. He suddenly felt a cold breeze blowing all around him. His feet felt a soft ground underneath. He heard birds chirping as they fly over his head. He turned to look at his painting. It was gone.
He immediately got alert and aware of his surroundings. He was standing in a jungle with brushes in his hand and the bottles of colors on the table. He looked around and saw his queen lying on the bed with same tranquility as she had on her face few moments ago when he looked at her. The bed was placed in this jungle. He recognized this jungle. He had a sense that he had been a here before. It was the jungle of his painting.
He immediately drew his sword out which was hanging on his side. The sword shone like a fiery red metal against the red sky of the setting sun. He looked around very cautiously. He had been to jungles before and had hunted many wild animals. He was aware of the dangers of a jungle. He got a sense of protection for his queen and stood next to her bed as her guardian. Soon the evening sun disappeared behind the trees and the stars began to twinkle in the dark blue sky over him. As the darkness grew he began to see an illumination from a mountaintop. He rose up from the bed and saw a purple glow on top of that mountain. His instinct became sharp with the feeling that this was indeed his destination. That this is where he would find the Mystic Purple Flower. He wasn’t sure. But there was no time for indecisiveness. He had to believe his heart.
His warrior training and years of experience in war instantly sprang him into action. He realized that he would accept this reality in whatever form it had come to him. He knew it was all very mystical and beyond human comprehension so he must abide the rules of this realm.
“Don’t panic” he said to himself. His mind became calm and his heart filled with purpose.
He looked around for all the things that he could use for this journey. He began collecting wood and thin branches. He assembled bamboo sticks into the shape of a human size flatbed. The he gently lifted the queen and placed her on this. He created ropes out of thin branches and tied the queen to the bamboo bed and with rest of the ropes he created loops to pull it. He collected all the colors and brushes; put them into a cloth and tied the bag to his waist. He then put the ropes over his shoulder and began trekking towards the mystic mountain.
By now it was dark; darker than the black horse he so proudly owned in his stable. Only moonlight provided visibility which helped him to recognize shapes of plants and avoid trees. He found himself entering into a field of bushes. The ground was rocky and filled with pebbles. He looked into the direction of the mountain and it was mesmerizing with its purple glow shining bright in complete darkness. He became aware of something shining next to his feet as he was walking. A multicolor soft glow was projected on the ground that was moving with his each step. He noticed that the mystical colors were glowing in the dark. He stopped and put down the ropes of flatbed from his shoulder. He untied the bag of colors hanging at his waist and opened it. The bottles were shinning as bright as the mountain far away. He lifted up a bottle and it was shining with bright liquid as if it’s filled with millions of glowing particles. The particles seemed alive. The tiny particles were rotating in the bottle like a billion starts in a galaxy (modern reference). His eyes were filled with joy to see beauty of nature. The sight of it filled the heart of the king with new enthusiasm.
Suddenly, out of the bushes few tiny insects began flying towards the king like dandelions. There motion was slow and rhythmic. They seemed to be getting attracted to the light that was emitting from the color bottles. These insects had a glowing tail that was round like a pebble. Soon, one after another a hundreds of them began circling the bottle as if hypnotized by it. The king picked up a stick from the ground and tied the bag of color bottles to it. He then put the ropes back on his shoulder and began trekking towards the mountain once again. He was holding the stick over his head with the color bag tied to it and hundreds of flowing insect circling it. From a distance it looked like as if the king was carrying an umbrella made of flickering tiny lights that’s circling the stick.
The king got exhausted after walking few miles in the bushes. He noticed a huge black rock in the darkness. The rock was lying next to the path he was trekking on. He decided to take some rest. He sat next to the rock. He casually touched the rock with the fingers of his right hand to check the texture of the surface. A few glittering sparks followed his finger’s motion. He was surprised and thrilled to see it. He moved his hand again on the rock and the same phenomenon happened again. Instinctively, he took his brushes and colors out and drew a large butterfly on this rock. He didn’t know why he felt like doing that. It occurred in his mind and hands took to action. As he finished the outlines of the butterfly; the rock started cracking at the lines. Suddenly, the black rock-stone turned into sand and the butterfly shape became emerged from the rock. A bright light began to appear from the depth of the engraved lines. The king took a step back with a jerk. The dark jungle was filled with bright glow coming out of the rock. The king saw a huge butterfly rising out of the rock as if breaking out of a cocoon. The king drew his sword out and stood next to the queen. The butterfly was double the size than the king. Its wings were glowing with soft but bright colors. It looked heavenly in that dark night. The king moved his left elbow to cover his eyes from the sudden burst of such bright colors.
The butterfly moved its wings slowly and gently. The wings felt like creating a motion of lights, like when you move a thousand candles from one side to the other. The king’s heart got filled with joy. But he was careful not to believe everything in this mystic jungle. The butterfly sat on the ground with its wings spread either side like a moth. The king holding his sword walked slowly to its head. On sensing that the creature is harmless, he slowly placed his right hand on its head as if caressing a pet. The butterfly responded by moving its head left and right. The king understood and patted it once again. The glow from the butterfly’s wings had lit up the entire place. The king lifted the queen from the flatbed. The butterfly lowered itself to the ground by bending its legs and the king laid the queen onto its back and tied the queen. Then he climbed up and slithered to the head of the butterfly and sat on its neck by sliding his legs on the either side of it. He firmly held the soft skin of the butterfly in his hand and pulled it up gently. The butterfly rose from the ground and slowly moved its wings. The king felt as if he is surrounded by many moons and suns on his either sides. He felt as if the butterfly knows the direction of his journey. He could feel the calmness of the butterfly in this environment and that made him relax a bit.
The butterfly took a big leap in the air and lifted itself up many feet from the ground. The king felt as if he is riding a flying horse. He could feel the muscles of the butterfly’s back working under his thighs as he feels when he rides a horse. But it was not the same. The thrill of flying a butterfly many hundred feet up in the air is a different experience than riding a horse on hard ground. The king turned his attention to his queen. She was still unconscious and her face was glowing in the moving multi-hues of the light emitting from the wings of the butterfly. It was magical.
The butterfly was using it’s tentacles as headlights. Two bright rays of lights were emitting from them and that made the king see the jungle a bit better. The butterfly was now hundreds of feet above the ground. The king could see the trees under his feet as they were flying over them. His bag of colors was tightly hung around his waist. His sword lied on his left waist. His hair pulled back with sheer speed of the wind as the butterfly was racing ahead. He could see the mountain with purple color glowing at its peak far in the distance. It was coming closer with each fluttering of the butterfly wings.
Then all of a sudden, he sensed a downward dip. The butterfly took a dive with its head looking straight down at the ground. He saw the most mesmerizing image of this journey. In front of him was a field filled with glowing flowers. Millions and millions of these tiny flowers adorned the bottom of the mountain. The butterfly was not artificial. it’s natural instincts were still intact. It was going for the flowers. King broke away from the spell of the mesmerizing flowers. He tried to pull the butterfly up and but he had realized that it was not going to stop. It was heading straight down towards the glowing flowers. As it descended close to the ground the king realized that they were heading towards a naturally grown valley of flowers.
The king had never seen such mysterious flowers in his entire life. All of them were glowing so bright in this darkness as if they were made of light itself. Some flowers were even bigger than the size of his horse. Some were as large as his entire painting room. A million of them were regular size flowers that grew like wild grass all around. These looked like a sky filled with bright stars. The king held on to the butterfly tightly with his right hand and with his left hand he held the rope which tied his queen to the back of the butterfly. He knew they are going to experience a jolt.
But the butterfly descended with such smoothness on to the fifty feet glowing sunflower that the king’s heart was filled with relief and pleasure when it landed on it. The king and the queen were now enveloped into the two giant colored wings as the butterfly rested on the sunflower. The king could feel the butterfly sucking the nectar out of the flower as he saw a glowing yellowish orange liquid flowing into the body of the butterfly under his thighs. The extreme end of the butterfly’ body was almost touching the ground. The king untied the queen and glided down all the way into the glowing the field. As he left the body of the butterfly he felt as if he fall is slowed down by what felt like a thick air that came under him like the arms of a mother. He saw the queen floating in the air next to him. Her eyes were closed but her face was glowing as if adorned with a million tiny diamonds. His body came in contact with the ground like a feather as if someone has gently placed him and his wife on the ground. He found himself looking up and surrounded by flowers that looked like giant roses roses. These were giant bright red roses with heights of almost six feet.
The queen was lying on top of him with her face resting on his chest. She looked bright pink drenched in that soft red glow. Her lips were beautiful and her face serene. In the rage of sharing such beauty around them the king tried to wake her up again. He shouted her name in desperation and shook her body. She just lied there on top of him; motionless. The king became sad and looked towards the glowing purple color mountain. He was at the bottom of that mountain.
As he rose to his feet he saw many butterflies different than the one he just rode. Something dawned in his mind and he realized that he might not be the only one with those magical colors coming to this mystic place. There had been many here before him. Suddenly he felt strange about the whole place. He stood there trying to make the sense of it all. He tried to remember the face of the sage when he was giving him these colors. The sage had a purpose when he gave me those colors. He wanted me to come here. But for what purpose he wanted me to take this journey? Why did he have to make it all so complicated? Why couldn’t he tell me straight forward what is it that he wanted? With these thoughts in his mind he looked up at the sky that had turned blueish grey and he knew that the dawn was not far.
He looked around to find a way out of this field of glowing flowers. He felt like as if he is in a city of flowers. He looked for the magical rock. He looked at the giant butterfly which was still stuck to the sunflower. He gave a glance to his queen lying among the roses. He walked around and saw a black rock through a bush of glowing flowers lying few yards away. He walked up to it, took his colors and brush out and he imagined the door of his painting room in his mind and his hands began to draw on the magic rock the shape of this door. As he finished the sketch; the doorknob of the door rose from the rock. The king went back to the queen and lifted her up on his shoulders and walked back towards the rock. He then pulled the knob and opened the door that had nothing but blinding darkness. He stepped into the open door in the rock and felt a solid marble floor under his feet.
His nostrils were filled with the familiar air of his room. He was home. He kept the queen gently on the floor and quickly jumped back and opened the door where he came in. He saw nothing but the corridor of his palace on the other side. He looked to the right and then to the left in amazement and he found himself inside his palace. He slowly closed the door back and walked towards queen. He lifted her up and put her on the bed and pulled the silk sheet on her body. His head was full with mixture of emotions. He looked outside the window of his palace and it was still night. The town was glowing outside. There was an eerie silence in the entire palace and the town outside. The stars were twinkling in the sky and the moon was shining bright.
He then went to his armor room. He changed his clothing into more comfortable one and got rid of all the heavy ornaments and other unnecessary weight. He dressed himself into more comfortable cotton clothes. He took a bow and a box full of sharp arrows. He tied that to his back. He picked up his royal sword which has been transferred through generations to his hand. He remembered the words of his father and they echoed in his mind once again “Remember my son, this sword can kill. And that knowledge is more powerful than the use of this sword.” The sword was a symbol of his kingdom and his ancestors’ legends. It was known to be most powerful sword in the entire kingdom. It was tradition. He tied the sword to his left side. He put on more comfortable sandals and tied the leather threads all the up to his calf. He tied a long rope around his waist with an iron hook. He then went to his ancestor’s room. He stood for a moment in front of his father’s royal belongings, bowed and walked up to the painting room.
The queen was still lying unconscious on the bed. He kissed her on the forehead. He kissed her ring in her finger that he gave her on the first night of their wedding. He could still imagine how beautiful she looked in the fields of those bright glowing roses. He sat next to her for a while staring at her face.
He then turned his head towards the painting and stared at it. In the dark moonlit room the painting looked like a giant window that covered the whole of the wall behind it. He could feel the air of the other side in his head. He slowly got up from her bed and walked towards the painting. The silk cloth was lying on the floor as he had left it. He stood facing the painting. He knew he had to go back to the jungle to fulfill his purpose. He knew that only he could take this journey as anyone else who would see this painting would end up being like the queen. He resolved to go to the top of the purple mountain. He took his colors and brushes out and drew a large butterfly on top of the jungle. His strokes were strong and confident. He sensed the unknown force taking over his hands and a sense of thrill rushed into his skull as he paints the last stroke to bring the painting to its finish.
A sudden gush of wind was blowing fast across his face and his hair were flying back on his head. The air was fresh, moist and filled with purity. He smelled the purity and chill of the air in his nostrils. He felt a sudden surge of warmth and calmness inside his head. His face was glowing with multicolor hues of moving colors. He saw his eyes filled with these colors and suddenly he saw the image of the mountain with purple glow in front of him. He looked down and he found himself standing on the back of the butterfly. The wings were moving on his either side with fierce motion. He fell on his stomach with a jolt and held onto the butterfly skin firmly. He was back into the mystic land.
The butterfly was rising up with each dive. He looked up at the sky; it was still grayish blue. The clouds were coming closer to his head and then with a jolt he felt as if someone has swept his off his feet. He could no more feel the earth pulling him back. He was floating on the back of the butterfly holding firmly to its skin. All around him were coldness and smoke. The skin of his face felt like millions of tiny ice particles are being thrown at it. He kept his eyes closed until he could no more feel the pain of ice-cold particles on his face. He slowly opened his eyes and he saw that the butterfly was flying over the clouds that were like smoke moving around slowly on water. The butterfly took a deep dive like an eagle. It was very unnatural of a butterfly to do that; he thought. He saw the white smoke growing bigger in size and rushing towards them. With a piercing sound the butterfly went back into the clouds. It was all hazy and smoky around him. The butterfly was moving with an incredible acceleration. So fast was the butterfly’s speed that his clothes began to get torn away from his body. He lost his arrows and bow to the force of wind. His roped flung out like a snake and vanished into the thick smoke. He held onto the bag of colors tightly as the butterfly was still accelerating towards the ground. But eventually his hands could no longer hold the bag in place and it opened up releasing all its watercolors into the thick smoke. All the colors seem to flowing into the direction they were heading to. It seemed pretty strange to the king and its was opposite in nature of things. He saw the colors racing ahead of them and heading to a vintage point onto their path. The colors then began to fuse into each other and start forming a whirlpool. The multicolor whirlpool then began to grow in size and its color began to turn into purple. The butterfly seemed to fly towards the center of the whirlpool with such incredible force that he had to close his eyes and when he opened his eyes he could see a purple halo and the peak of a mountain. It looked like a haze of purple smoke on top of the mountain. The butterfly was heading straight for it. He held onto the butterfly firmly.
Beneath the purple halo lied the giant Mystic Purple Flower. The flower was the biggest he had seen so far. It almost looked like the size of his palace. The king and the butterfly just looked like a tiny dot on top of it. The flower opened it petals slowly as soon as the butterfly pierced through the purple haze. The king realized that all things are connected in n
Once Upon A Time There Was A King!(sundeep verma)
Once upon a time there was a king. The king was very fond of painting and possessed quite a good skill at it. He was brave, fair and kind king. But he had a weakness and he always wished if he could get rid of it. He had extreme attachment to things that he had in his life; living or dead. That attachment always burdened him and he had no control over it. He never shared it with anyone but secretly he wished if he could free himself from this slavery.
He had one wife. She was pretty, charming and naughty and was a favorite of the king. Whenever the king used to get free from daily affairs of his kingdom, he would get into his painting room and paint. The queen used to play around in the same room while the king used to paint his imagination on the canvass. The queen used to create an atmosphere of happiness and joy around him. The room had a huge window with carved golden frame and blue velvet curtains with frills made from gold threads from which the sunlight used to filter into the room. At times the king would look out of the window and watch over his beautiful kingdom with tenderness and satisfaction.
One day a very famous and profound sage came down to the kingdom after many years of travelling and attaining enlightenment. The king welcomed him in his darbar with royal courtship and respect. He was all ears to listen to sage’s profound words of wisdom. The sage offered him a bag made of cloth that was filled with something heavy inside it. The king asked the sage what is it?
The sage replied “ you are a great king and I have heard stories of your righteousness and wit all across the kingdom. I have travelled many mystical places and have met extremely profound people who told me about the mystical flowers growing in a very mystic place atop a hill. I couldn’t keep my curiosity and went around looking for these flowers. This bag contains bottles. These bottles are filled with different colors made from these mystical flowers those I plucked personally from all over the world. I spent my entire life looking for these mystical flowers and I faced many dangers, walked into forbidden jungles, climbed up to the greatest mountains to collect them and dedicated myself to churn them with my sacred slokas. These colors are made from those flowers. I know about your great mastery at creating wonderful paintings and I wish to offer you this bag as a token of my visit to you. But remember one thing; nobody should see the painting made from these colors. It’s only for the master to witness the profound colors contained in these bottles.”
The sage then looked up at the king and asked: “Would you like to accept these precious and profound colors my king?”
The king stared at the bag of colors for a long time. He was overwhelmed by sage’s words and thanked the sage for such a precious gift. He made arrangements for his stay in his palace and offered him to stay there as long as he wished.
The king was excited to go back to his room and paint with these newly acquired mystical colors. The day passed as usual and the king was back to his room. His queen who used to visit him after his kingly affairs of the day was barred from entering the room.
The king arranged for a blank canvass, which was as huge as the entire wall of his room. The huge window to the left was filtering red and orange colors of the sunset into the room. The king laid down the bottles on the table next to his canvass and arranged all the brushes next to them. He began painting on the canvass with no clear thought in his mind. Then all of sudden an impulse of imagination ran through his spine and flashes of trees and mountains began to fill his mind. He lifted the brush in his hand and the moment he dipped his brush into the color bottle he felt a sudden lightness in his entire body. The painting began to take shape. His strokes began creating shapes of trees on the canvass. Suddenly he felt that he is not drawing this picture. His hands were getting direction from some force on which he has no control over. It felt to him as if he and the brush had become the same. He could feel the texture of the canvass cloth at the tip of his finger where it touched the wooden back of the brush and he didn’t need to apply any pressure to change the direction of his strokes. The brush was on its own creating the painting. By the time it was dark outside the window; the painting was half complete. He decided to finish the rest of it tomorrow and kept the brush aside on the table. His whole body was filled with thrill and joy to experience such lightness of being. He stood still gazing the painting for a long time. It looked like a jungle but not anything he had ever seen before. But still he felt as if he knows the jungle, its ways, its trees and the whole map seemed etched somewhere in his mind.
It was a strange experience but he dismissed the thought as just a flight of fancy of his mind. He covered the painting with a thin silk cloth and instructed the guards on the way out to not let anyone inside the room without his permission. He went to his room to sleep.
The queen got up around midnight with restlessness in her body. She tried to sleep but she couldn’t go back to sleep. She rose from her bed and moved out of the room for a stroll. Her anklets were creating melody in the air as she walked into the corridor of the palace. The whole palace was silent. Only the patches of moonlight falling on the floor and walls seem to be making silent sounds. The queen slowly started walking towards the king’s painting room. Her heart filled with excitement and thrill. She had heard the story from her lady servant about the mystical sage and his gift to the king and couldn’t resist the temptation to witness those mystical colors.
The anklets melody woke up the king as she passed by his room. He instantly recognized the beautiful sound of those anklets and the direction it’s coming from. He swung the sheet off his body and got up from his bed. He knew the nature of curious little queen and got worried. As he walked out of his door and turned to look towards his painting room. He saw the queen standing outside the open doors of his painting room. His heart got filled with fear from sage’s warning. Before he could react the queen has already disappeared into the room through those huge heavily carved wooden doors. The king understood the urgency of the situation and jumped towards the room. His each step was feeling ten times its weight. The dozing guards got up with a jolt hearing the footsteps. The king jumped inside the room. His breath stopped and his whole body froze with fear to see what was in front of his eyes.
The silk cloth was lying on the floor helplessly and was shining with a soft white glow in the moonlight. The entire room was dark and the moonlight was creating a silhouette of the tall beautiful queen with white silver outline. The queen was standing frozen in front of the half painted canvass looking straight into the jungle.
The king slowly walked towards the queen. The queen’s eyes were looking straight at the canvass without acknowledging the king. There was an eerie silence in the room. The only sound was coming from outside of air brushing with the leaves of the trees in the garden of the palace. The moonlight was the only source of light. The king stood right in front of the queen but she was looking passed through him. He felt as if he was transparent and the queen was still looking at the painting. He tried to wake her up from what seemed like a trance state. He immediately called upon the guards and asked for all the doctors in his kingdom.
The doctors gathered around the queen who was lying on a beautiful golden bed with silk bedding. The bedding had beautiful purple flowers made from fine silk thread and golden wires. The king closed the eyes of the queen gently. She was still breathing but her whole body had no movement of any kind. The queen looked beautiful in her green golden sari and blue blouse with milky skin glowing white in the moonlight. The precious stones of the necklace the king gifted her were sparkling and the anklet lying motionless in the feet.
The king consulted with the doctors feverishly. Nobody had come to any conclusion so far. After many hours passed and the doctors still had no clue about what had happened to the queen that the king asked for the sage. The guards went rushing to the sage’s room and narrated the whole episode to him. The sage got up immediately and rushed to the palace.
“Oh dear king, I warned you about the mystical powers of these colors” the sage said with concern.
“What can be done now respected sage? I love my queen more than anything else in this world and I would do anything to get her back”. said the king.
“We need to talk in solitude my king” said the sage.
“Solitude!” the king announced.
Everyone left the room murmuring and soon the voices died behind the heavy wooden doors as the king closed them behind him.
“You need to finish the painting my great king” said the sage.
“I don’t understand” said the king.
“The queen can only be awakened if someone drops the juice of The Mystical Purple Flower in her mouth” said the sage.
“Where is this Mystical Purple Flower sage?”
The sage turned towards the unfinished painting which was covered with the silk cloth.
“My king, the painting will tell you that” said the sage.
“how?! And what this painting has got to do with the queen? And how will the painting show me where is this Mystical Purple Flower is?”
“It will, my great king.” The sage said with soothing tone. “The moment you will finish it”.
The sage stood in front of the king. The king looked into his eyes and he realized that the sage knew something he didn’t. The king laid all his faith in sage and requested him to stay in his kingdom until he had solved this mystery.
The king began painting at the first orange light of the morning. The jungle was taking shape. He started feeling more and more stronger the sense of knowing the jungle. He knew there is something mystic lying in this entire situation. By the time it was evening his hand was finishing the last stroke of painting. The sense of finish had arrived in his mind. The painting was complete.
He turned to his left towards the table where he kept all the colors. His queen was lying on the golden bed glowing beautifully in the evening sun. His heart filled with love and care for his wife as he turned his eyes to the window. Outside lied a beautiful golden city shining in the lights of the evening sun. He moved slowly to his table and kept his brush gently next to the purple color bottle. He suddenly felt a cold breeze blowing all around him. His feet felt a soft ground underneath. He heard birds chirping as they fly over his head. He turned to look at his painting. It was gone.
He immediately got alert and aware of his surroundings. He was standing in a jungle with brushes in his hand and the bottles of colors on the table. He looked around and saw his queen lying on the bed with same tranquility as she had on her face few moments ago when he looked at her. The bed was placed in this jungle. He recognized this jungle. He had a sense that he had been a here before. It was the jungle of his painting.
He immediately drew his sword out which was hanging on his side. The sword shone like a fiery red metal against the red sky of the setting sun. He looked around very cautiously. He had been to jungles before and had hunted many wild animals. He was aware of the dangers of a jungle. He got a sense of protection for his queen and stood next to her bed as her guardian. Soon the evening sun disappeared behind the trees and the stars began to twinkle in the dark blue sky over him. As the darkness grew he began to see an illumination from a mountaintop. He rose up from the bed and saw a purple glow on top of that mountain. His instinct became sharp with the feeling that this was indeed his destination. That this is where he would find the Mystic Purple Flower. He wasn’t sure. But there was no time for indecisiveness. He had to believe his heart.
His warrior training and years of experience in war instantly sprang him into action. He realized that he would accept this reality in whatever form it had come to him. He knew it was all very mystical and beyond human comprehension so he must abide the rules of this realm.
“Don’t panic” he said to himself. His mind became calm and his heart filled with purpose.
He looked around for all the things that he could use for this journey. He began collecting wood and thin branches. He assembled bamboo sticks into the shape of a human size flatbed. The he gently lifted the queen and placed her on this. He created ropes out of thin branches and tied the queen to the bamboo bed and with rest of the ropes he created loops to pull it. He collected all the colors and brushes; put them into a cloth and tied the bag to his waist. He then put the ropes over his shoulder and began trekking towards the mystic mountain.
By now it was dark; darker than the black horse he so proudly owned in his stable. Only moonlight provided visibility which helped him to recognize shapes of plants and avoid trees. He found himself entering into a field of bushes. The ground was rocky and filled with pebbles. He looked into the direction of the mountain and it was mesmerizing with its purple glow shining bright in complete darkness. He became aware of something shining next to his feet as he was walking. A multicolor soft glow was projected on the ground that was moving with his each step. He noticed that the mystical colors were glowing in the dark. He stopped and put down the ropes of flatbed from his shoulder. He untied the bag of colors hanging at his waist and opened it. The bottles were shinning as bright as the mountain far away. He lifted up a bottle and it was shining with bright liquid as if it’s filled with millions of glowing particles. The particles seemed alive. The tiny particles were rotating in the bottle like a billion starts in a galaxy (modern reference). His eyes were filled with joy to see beauty of nature. The sight of it filled the heart of the king with new enthusiasm.
Suddenly, out of the bushes few tiny insects began flying towards the king like dandelions. There motion was slow and rhythmic. They seemed to be getting attracted to the light that was emitting from the color bottles. These insects had a glowing tail that was round like a pebble. Soon, one after another a hundreds of them began circling the bottle as if hypnotized by it. The king picked up a stick from the ground and tied the bag of color bottles to it. He then put the ropes back on his shoulder and began trekking towards the mountain once again. He was holding the stick over his head with the color bag tied to it and hundreds of flowing insect circling it. From a distance it looked like as if the king was carrying an umbrella made of flickering tiny lights that’s circling the stick.
The king got exhausted after walking few miles in the bushes. He noticed a huge black rock in the darkness. The rock was lying next to the path he was trekking on. He decided to take some rest. He sat next to the rock. He casually touched the rock with the fingers of his right hand to check the texture of the surface. A few glittering sparks followed his finger’s motion. He was surprised and thrilled to see it. He moved his hand again on the rock and the same phenomenon happened again. Instinctively, he took his brushes and colors out and drew a large butterfly on this rock. He didn’t know why he felt like doing that. It occurred in his mind and hands took to action. As he finished the outlines of the butterfly; the rock started cracking at the lines. Suddenly, the black rock-stone turned into sand and the butterfly shape became emerged from the rock. A bright light began to appear from the depth of the engraved lines. The king took a step back with a jerk. The dark jungle was filled with bright glow coming out of the rock. The king saw a huge butterfly rising out of the rock as if breaking out of a cocoon. The king drew his sword out and stood next to the queen. The butterfly was double the size than the king. Its wings were glowing with soft but bright colors. It looked heavenly in that dark night. The king moved his left elbow to cover his eyes from the sudden burst of such bright colors.
The butterfly moved its wings slowly and gently. The wings felt like creating a motion of lights, like when you move a thousand candles from one side to the other. The king’s heart got filled with joy. But he was careful not to believe everything in this mystic jungle. The butterfly sat on the ground with its wings spread either side like a moth. The king holding his sword walked slowly to its head. On sensing that the creature is harmless, he slowly placed his right hand on its head as if caressing a pet. The butterfly responded by moving its head left and right. The king understood and patted it once again. The glow from the butterfly’s wings had lit up the entire place. The king lifted the queen from the flatbed. The butterfly lowered itself to the ground by bending its legs and the king laid the queen onto its back and tied the queen. Then he climbed up and slithered to the head of the butterfly and sat on its neck by sliding his legs on the either side of it. He firmly held the soft skin of the butterfly in his hand and pulled it up gently. The butterfly rose from the ground and slowly moved its wings. The king felt as if he is surrounded by many moons and suns on his either sides. He felt as if the butterfly knows the direction of his journey. He could feel the calmness of the butterfly in this environment and that made him relax a bit.
The butterfly took a big leap in the air and lifted itself up many feet from the ground. The king felt as if he is riding a flying horse. He could feel the muscles of the butterfly’s back working under his thighs as he feels when he rides a horse. But it was not the same. The thrill of flying a butterfly many hundred feet up in the air is a different experience than riding a horse on hard ground. The king turned his attention to his queen. She was still unconscious and her face was glowing in the moving multi-hues of the light emitting from the wings of the butterfly. It was magical.
The butterfly was using it’s tentacles as headlights. Two bright rays of lights were emitting from them and that made the king see the jungle a bit better. The butterfly was now hundreds of feet above the ground. The king could see the trees under his feet as they were flying over them. His bag of colors was tightly hung around his waist. His sword lied on his left waist. His hair pulled back with sheer speed of the wind as the butterfly was racing ahead. He could see the mountain with purple color glowing at its peak far in the distance. It was coming closer with each fluttering of the butterfly wings.
Then all of a sudden, he sensed a downward dip. The butterfly took a dive with its head looking straight down at the ground. He saw the most mesmerizing image of this journey. In front of him was a field filled with glowing flowers. Millions and millions of these tiny flowers adorned the bottom of the mountain. The butterfly was not artificial. it’s natural instincts were still intact. It was going for the flowers. King broke away from the spell of the mesmerizing flowers. He tried to pull the butterfly up and but he had realized that it was not going to stop. It was heading straight down towards the glowing flowers. As it descended close to the ground the king realized that they were heading towards a naturally grown valley of flowers.
The king had never seen such mysterious flowers in his entire life. All of them were glowing so bright in this darkness as if they were made of light itself. Some flowers were even bigger than the size of his horse. Some were as large as his entire painting room. A million of them were regular size flowers that grew like wild grass all around. These looked like a sky filled with bright stars. The king held on to the butterfly tightly with his right hand and with his left hand he held the rope which tied his queen to the back of the butterfly. He knew they are going to experience a jolt.
But the butterfly descended with such smoothness on to the fifty feet glowing sunflower that the king’s heart was filled with relief and pleasure when it landed on it. The king and the queen were now enveloped into the two giant colored wings as the butterfly rested on the sunflower. The king could feel the butterfly sucking the nectar out of the flower as he saw a glowing yellowish orange liquid flowing into the body of the butterfly under his thighs. The extreme end of the butterfly’ body was almost touching the ground. The king untied the queen and glided down all the way into the glowing the field. As he left the body of the butterfly he felt as if he fall is slowed down by what felt like a thick air that came under him like the arms of a mother. He saw the queen floating in the air next to him. Her eyes were closed but her face was glowing as if adorned with a million tiny diamonds. His body came in contact with the ground like a feather as if someone has gently placed him and his wife on the ground. He found himself looking up and surrounded by flowers that looked like giant roses roses. These were giant bright red roses with heights of almost six feet.
The queen was lying on top of him with her face resting on his chest. She looked bright pink drenched in that soft red glow. Her lips were beautiful and her face serene. In the rage of sharing such beauty around them the king tried to wake her up again. He shouted her name in desperation and shook her body. She just lied there on top of him; motionless. The king became sad and looked towards the glowing purple color mountain. He was at the bottom of that mountain.
As he rose to his feet he saw many butterflies different than the one he just rode. Something dawned in his mind and he realized that he might not be the only one with those magical colors coming to this mystic place. There had been many here before him. Suddenly he felt strange about the whole place. He stood there trying to make the sense of it all. He tried to remember the face of the sage when he was giving him these colors. The sage had a purpose when he gave me those colors. He wanted me to come here. But for what purpose he wanted me to take this journey? Why did he have to make it all so complicated? Why couldn’t he tell me straight forward what is it that he wanted? With these thoughts in his mind he looked up at the sky that had turned blueish grey and he knew that the dawn was not far.
He looked around to find a way out of this field of glowing flowers. He felt like as if he is in a city of flowers. He looked for the magical rock. He looked at the giant butterfly which was still stuck to the sunflower. He gave a glance to his queen lying among the roses. He walked around and saw a black rock through a bush of glowing flowers lying few yards away. He walked up to it, took his colors and brush out and he imagined the door of his painting room in his mind and his hands began to draw on the magic rock the shape of this door. As he finished the sketch; the doorknob of the door rose from the rock. The king went back to the queen and lifted her up on his shoulders and walked back towards the rock. He then pulled the knob and opened the door that had nothing but blinding darkness. He stepped into the open door in the rock and felt a solid marble floor under his feet.
His nostrils were filled with the familiar air of his room. He was home. He kept the queen gently on the floor and quickly jumped back and opened the door where he came in. He saw nothing but the corridor of his palace on the other side. He looked to the right and then to the left in amazement and he found himself inside his palace. He slowly closed the door back and walked towards queen. He lifted her up and put her on the bed and pulled the silk sheet on her body. His head was full with mixture of emotions. He looked outside the window of his palace and it was still night. The town was glowing outside. There was an eerie silence in the entire palace and the town outside. The stars were twinkling in the sky and the moon was shining bright.
He then went to his armor room. He changed his clothing into more comfortable one and got rid of all the heavy ornaments and other unnecessary weight. He dressed himself into more comfortable cotton clothes. He took a bow and a box full of sharp arrows. He tied that to his back. He picked up his royal sword which has been transferred through generations to his hand. He remembered the words of his father and they echoed in his mind once again “Remember my son, this sword can kill. And that knowledge is more powerful than the use of this sword.” The sword was a symbol of his kingdom and his ancestors’ legends. It was known to be most powerful sword in the entire kingdom. It was tradition. He tied the sword to his left side. He put on more comfortable sandals and tied the leather threads all the up to his calf. He tied a long rope around his waist with an iron hook. He then went to his ancestor’s room. He stood for a moment in front of his father’s royal belongings, bowed and walked up to the painting room.
The queen was still lying unconscious on the bed. He kissed her on the forehead. He kissed her ring in her finger that he gave her on the first night of their wedding. He could still imagine how beautiful she looked in the fields of those bright glowing roses. He sat next to her for a while staring at her face.
He then turned his head towards the painting and stared at it. In the dark moonlit room the painting looked like a giant window that covered the whole of the wall behind it. He could feel the air of the other side in his head. He slowly got up from her bed and walked towards the painting. The silk cloth was lying on the floor as he had left it. He stood facing the painting. He knew he had to go back to the jungle to fulfill his purpose. He knew that only he could take this journey as anyone else who would see this painting would end up being like the queen. He resolved to go to the top of the purple mountain. He took his colors and brushes out and drew a large butterfly on top of the jungle. His strokes were strong and confident. He sensed the unknown force taking over his hands and a sense of thrill rushed into his skull as he paints the last stroke to bring the painting to its finish.
A sudden gush of wind was blowing fast across his face and his hair were flying back on his head. The air was fresh, moist and filled with purity. He smelled the purity and chill of the air in his nostrils. He felt a sudden surge of warmth and calmness inside his head. His face was glowing with multicolor hues of moving colors. He saw his eyes filled with these colors and suddenly he saw the image of the mountain with purple glow in front of him. He looked down and he found himself standing on the back of the butterfly. The wings were moving on his either side with fierce motion. He fell on his stomach with a jolt and held onto the butterfly skin firmly. He was back into the mystic land.
The butterfly was rising up with each dive. He looked up at the sky; it was still grayish blue. The clouds were coming closer to his head and then with a jolt he felt as if someone has swept his off his feet. He could no more feel the earth pulling him back. He was floating on the back of the butterfly holding firmly to its skin. All around him were coldness and smoke. The skin of his face felt like millions of tiny ice particles are being thrown at it. He kept his eyes closed until he could no more feel the pain of ice-cold particles on his face. He slowly opened his eyes and he saw that the butterfly was flying over the clouds that were like smoke moving around slowly on water. The butterfly took a deep dive like an eagle. It was very unnatural of a butterfly to do that; he thought. He saw the white smoke growing bigger in size and rushing towards them. With a piercing sound the butterfly went back into the clouds. It was all hazy and smoky around him. The butterfly was moving with an incredible acceleration. So fast was the butterfly’s speed that his clothes began to get torn away from his body. He lost his arrows and bow to the force of wind. His roped flung out like a snake and vanished into the thick smoke. He held onto the bag of colors tightly as the butterfly was still accelerating towards the ground. But eventually his hands could no longer hold the bag in place and it opened up releasing all its watercolors into the thick smoke. All the colors seem to flowing into the direction they were heading to. It seemed pretty strange to the king and its was opposite in nature of things. He saw the colors racing ahead of them and heading to a vintage point onto their path. The colors then began to fuse into each other and start forming a whirlpool. The multicolor whirlpool then began to grow in size and its color began to turn into purple. The butterfly seemed to fly towards the center of the whirlpool with such incredible force that he had to close his eyes and when he opened his eyes he could see a purple halo and the peak of a mountain. It looked like a haze of purple smoke on top of the mountain. The butterfly was heading straight for it. He held onto the butterfly firmly.
Beneath the purple halo lied the giant Mystic Purple Flower. The flower was the biggest he had seen so far. It almost looked like the size of his palace. The king and the butterfly just looked like a tiny dot on top of it. The flower opened it petals slowly as soon as the butterfly pierced through the purple haze. The king realized that all things are connected in n
- Share this story on
- 4
COMMENTS (0)