Princess Ghulab

There was a king and a queen in the kingdom of Kalyani. Both of them were very good people but never had any babies in their house. They daily went to the temple and prayed God to give them a baby. Once when the queen went to the temple, there was a holy man sitting near the gate. He asked her, “I am very hungry. Give me something to eat.” The queen immediately gave all the fruits, which she had brought for offering to the God to him. That Holy man was very happy and asked her, “Can I pray God to give you something?” The queen with folded hands told, “Great sage, please bless me so that our house will have a little baby. “ The sage blessed her and went his way.

After one year a baby girl was born in the house of the king and the queen. They became very happy and celebrated the occasion. They named the little girl as Ghulab (rose). They also arranged for a special feast to all the sages of the kingdom. They had invited 12 sages and had arranged for 12 golden dining tables. But 13 sages came and one sage did not get a golden dining table. He became angry and cursed Ghulab He said,” when Ghulab becomes 16, a sewing machine will hurt her fingers and she will sleep for one hundred years.”

The king and queen became very sad and removed all sewing machines from their kingdom. Ghulab became a pretty lady and her 16th birthday was celebrated in a grand manner. She was very happy that night and was wandering through the palace. Suddenly she found a strange room and heard a strange sound. She opened the room and found an old lady using the sewing machine. She became very curios and went near the machine, for she had not seen such a machine in all her life. While she was seeing the machine, the needle of the machine pricked her fingers and blood came out. Immediately she started sleeping. Not only her, but also the entire country including, the king, queen, people and all animals and birds slept with her.

Over the years a forest grew in that country. People called it Ghulab forest. Some curious young men entered in to the forest but never came back. After 100 years, a prince called Vikram came to that forest. He told his father that he wanted to see what is in the Ghulab forest. Though all people requested him not to go, he entered the forest. He found the watchman of the forest sleeping. Next were the people, dogs, flies, mosquitoes, soldiers and every body and every thing he saw. Slowly he entered the palace and went on searching and came to the room where the Princess Ghulab was sleeping. It was one hundred years after Ghulab had started sleeping .So she got up and saw prince Vikram. She liked him very much. Vikram also liked her. Both of them decided to marry each other. By this time Ghulab’s parents as well as the whole city woke up. They all came to the palace thanked prince Vikram. Vikram and Ghulab lived for a very long time happily.