Mummum's Stories

The Mighty Queen

Tahsina Yasmin

Once upon a time there lived a mighty queen. She had a huge palace, a powerful army, and riches. She didn't care anyone. One day, she went hunting in the forest. Unfortunately, there came a storm and scattered her followers.  She found herself all alone in the forest. She started looking for a shelter and soon found a cave. When she went inside, she saw a light. Surprisingly, she found an old woman into the cave. The queen addressed her and ordered, "Hey, you oldie! Give me something to wipe my head." The old woman looked at her but didn't say anything. She pointed her choppy withered finger at some ragged clothes kept on a stool. The queen was furious at this. She shouted at the top of her voice and said, "How dare you! Do you know who I am? I'm the QUEEN! You witch, bring me some hot soup that you're cooking. I'm shivering in cold." The woman poured some soup in a small black bowl and brought it to her without saying a word. The queen took a long sip from the bowl but soon she started feeling dizzy. Her head was reeling and she fell into a swoon.

The queen saw herself wearing tattered clothes and carrying a pail of water towards a small cottage. She walked inside and found a sick child in a cot. There was no food in the house. There was dirt everywhere. It was very shabby inside. Soon a man entered with a loaf of bread and says, "Honey, here's what we will have for supper today." The queen shouted from far away, "What's happening? Who's that man and the child? Where am I?" A voice from nowhere uttered, "This is you." She protested, "No, no, I'm the QUEEN!I'm not a peasant woman!" The voice said, "This is you. If you were not a queen, you would be a peasant woman. You were born to the royal family by chance. You could also be this woman or someone else, and not a queen at all!" The queen shrieked.

The queen woke up with a jolt. She jumped up to her feet and found herself still in the cave! She looked at the face of the old woman who was smiling to her. She opened her mouth for the first time and said, "How do you feel?" The queen felt nervous but said, "I'm okay but I feel confused about the dream I had. . . " The woman said, "It was all about your birth, you understand that, right?" The queen said, "Yes, I do. I now understand that if I wasn't born in a royal family, I'd have a very different life."

The queen had some soup, regained her strength, and came back to the palace. But she was a changed person and she became humble to understand other people's problems.