THE BROKEN PROMISE

SWARNALI CHAKRABORTY
CLASS 6 SECTION B

Once upon a time there lived a prince whose best friend was a shepherd. The two boys spent most of their time together. The prince would always tell the shepherd, “Friend when I become the king, you shall not work anymore. You shall be my royal guest.” Thus the two friends dreamt of the future.

Time passed. One day the old king passed away and the prince was crowned on the throne. But Alas! As soon as he became the king he forgot all his promises.

When the shepherd went to the palace, He was turned away unceremoniously by the guards. The shepherd was shocked and sad to see his old friend turning away from him.

One morning the king awoke in unbearable pain. He could not open his eyes. His body was pierced with countless needles. He could just lie in his bed screaming in agony!

That very day, the queen went all alone to a lake. It was a hot day and she decided to take a bath. Leaving her clothes and ornaments on the bank, she plunged into the water. A farmer was passing by. When she saw the royal clothes, she quickly put them on and pretended to be queen.           The poor queen still in the water was horrified, for, who could believe, her without any clothes or jewels? The imposter gave her some old rags and took and took her to the palace as a maid servant.

The imposter entered the palace and began to live with great luxury. The king was in great pain but she did not bother to nurse him. The ministers summoned many doctors, but none could remove the needles. When they failed magicians from the whole world were send for, but none could cure the king.

The queen was having a bad time too. She was given little food and was made to do all sorts of work. One day when she was washing clothes, by the lake she fainted. The shepherd who was happening to pass by took her home and nursed her back to health and treated her with great respect. But the queen 
could still not be happy.

One day the shepherd asked “Sister tell me what worries you?” when he heard the whole story, he at once realised that the king’s plight was due to his broken promise. However he loved his friend dearly, and wanted to help him.

At night the queen and the shepherd made their way to the palace. They climbed up to the king’s room by a ladder. The sight of his friend groaning in agony brought tears in his eyes. He took out a reel of magic threads and chanted:

                    

“Thread thread enter the needles

Take them out and make my friend fit as a fiddle.”

At once the thread looped itself and slipped through the holes of the needles. Gently it began to wind into a reel and pulled the needles one by one. Soon the king was free. After so many days he was able to open his eyes and sit up again. He saw the shepherd and the queen in his room. He was shocked to see the queen in this condition.

Hearing all this commotion, the imposter queen bustled in. seeing her king shouted “Who are you? How dare you wear the queen’s clothes?!”

The real queen then told the hold story. The king, at once banished the imposter from the kingdom.

The shepherd was made the Chief Advisor and they remained good friends ever after...