Week 13 Storytelling: Anjika's Journey

I was once married to a man who did not love me. He decided to marry Yuktasri, who was younger than me. Yuktasri was wicked. Day and night she would spit criticisms and insults at me. I was constantly abused as she forced me to do all of the housework, smiling as she gave me just enough food to keep me barely breathing.

One day, while our husband was out of town, Yuktasri ordered me to check her hair for lice. I complied with her demand and quietly began my task. As I was tediously combing through her hair, Yuktasri sprang up and lunged toward me in a fit of rage! I looked up at her from the floor and in her hand was the entirety of my hair, which she had swiftly ripped off my head.

My eyes filled with tears as she kicked me out of the house. Now, both starving and bald, I took off in the direction of the forest. There was nothing left for me to live for.

As I shuffled along, I came across an unkempt cotton plant. I gathered together some sticks to fastened a broom and swept the ground around the plant. I did this again to a plantain tree, a very messy shed of a Brahmani bull, and a tulasi plant. I found it odd that each of them would bless me; I was just cleaning.

Continuing my journey I ran into the hut of a muni. I watched in from behind as he sat cross-legged in meditation.

Suddenly he yelled at me to stand in front of him. Needless to say I was startled that he even knew of my presence, and a little bit frightened. He asked me of my woes and I trembled as I told him of my home life. The muni told me to plunge myself once in the near by lake and then return to him, and so I did.

I immersed myself in the cool water and felt calm. I looked into the water for my reflection but did not it. Instead, I saw another woman staring back at me. This woman had long black hair and a perfectly fair complexion. She was young and beautiful. Staring down at the woman, I felt something brush against my heels. I turned my gaze to them and saw long black hair brushing against my ankles. I reached down to grab the hair and suddenly there was more, this time draped across my shoulder. I looked up, thinking that there must be someone standing above me, but there was no one. That was when I realized that the woman I was looking at in the water was me!

I returned to the muni all shiny and new. He told me to grab any whicker basket of my choosing from his hut. There must have been a hundred baskets, but I did as he requested and brought to him a modest-looking basket. When I opened it, the basket was filled with gold, pearls, and other precious stones! The muni said it would never become empty.

I bowed before him in gratitude and then he and I silently parted ways.

On my return home, I ran into the tulasi plant, the Brahmani bull, the plantain tree, and the cotton plant. Each stopped me and gifted me with something special. The tulasi plant told me that my husband would love me warmly. The Brahmani bull gave me two shell ornaments that, when shook, would give me any ornament I wanted. The plantain tree give me a leaf that, when moved, would give me all kinds of agreeable food. Lastly, the cotton plant gifted me one of its own branches that, when shook, would give me clothes made of cotton, silk and purple.

I shook the branch and sure enough a fabric of fine glossy silk fell across my lap. I put on the silk cloth and continued home.

As I approached the front of my house I saw Yuktasri. The look on her face was priceless when she realized who I was!

Honestly, I felt sorry for all of the wicked she held in her heart. I decided that I would tell her how I received all of my gifts and beauty. I then gave her clothing, ornaments, and other treasures using the gifts I had received. I did not expect her to say thank you, but I was not expecting her to just take off in a huff.

It was nice to be home again, and even more so to have the place to myself. I felt incredibly blessed and grateful to have been given such magnificent splendor.

As cleaned up the quite, empty house, I head the sound of heavy footsteps down the road. I looked out and saw Yuktasri, as bald as wicked as she looked before. She was pissed.

As she was approaching the house, so did my husband arrive home. I walked out onto our porch to greet him. The look on his face was of pure and utter shock…then he smiled. He ran and grabbed me in his arms and has not stopped adoring me since.

With Yuktasri as our maid-servant and our incredible wealth and resources still intact, my husband has loved me incessantly for all of these years and we have truly lived happily-ever-after.

illustration by Warwick Goble (Gutenberg)

Author's Note. This is the story The Bald Wife. The storytelling is basically the same from the original story, except I chose to write it from the elder wife’s perspective. The entire story is basically about how if you are kind on the inside it will shine through and if you are wicked on the inside it will show on the outside as well. In the original story, they did not have names so I decided that I would name them. Yuktasri is a Hindi name for wicked and disobedient, while Anjika means blessed for she was greatly blessed by the kindness of her heart. When I wrote it from Anjika’s perspective I decided not to place a lot of emphasis on her beauty except for when she discovers that she is now young and beautiful. By doing this, I felt as though it highlighted her kind heart and how that played a major role in her transformation rather than her physical appearance. By writing the story from Anjika’s perspective, I was able to add more detail and let Anjika’s voice have a part in the story. I was also able to better capture how awful her life originally was and how wicked Yuktasri was.

Bibliography. Folk-Tales of Bengal by the Rev. Lal Behari Day, with illustrations by Warwick Goble (1912).