Ages ago there was a king who had two wives. But he had no children. In the same city lived a poor brahmin who had a beautiful daughter. Her name was Kanaka. The king saw her in the temple on a festival day. He was attracted by her beauty so he married her.

After, some time the king had to go away to fight against his enemy. In his absence Kanaka gave birth to a baby boy, the future prince of the kingdom. The two elder queens felt very jealous of Kanaka. They bribed a woman to take the child away.

She took it to the temple garden and left it there as she was a good woman at heart.

In the meantime, the jealous queens sent word to the king that Kanaka had given birth to a brick instead of a baby. The angry king ordered that Kanaka be thrown into a prison.

Meanwhile, the priest found the baby prince, while plucking flowers in the temple garden. He had no children of his own; so, he took the baby home happily and named him Kantirava. The priest and his wife fondly brought him up as their own son. Shortly afterwards, the priest was blessed with a son of his own. Both the boys grew up together as brothers.

When they became young men, the priest told Kantirava the true story of his birth. The prince decided to teach the queens a lesson. When he was a little boy, the priest had given him a wooden horse and a bamboo elephant to play with.

One day he took them to a well close to the palace where the palace maids had come to draw water. The prince took both the toys close to the well and asked them to drink water from it. The maids had a hearty laugh at this. The prince replied: “If the queen could give birth to a brick instead of a baby, the wooden horse and the bamboo elephant could drink water from the well.”

The maids carried the story to the queens. The queens became suspicious. They secretly bribed some ruffians to kill both the boys. The ruffians kidnapped both the prince and the priest’s son. They took them to the outskirts of the city. However, they could not bring themselves to kill them.

So they left them there but reported to the queens that they had killed them. Both the prince and the priest’s son kept on travelling till they reached the next city. The princess of that city had given some sandal powder which she had used, to a shopkeeper. She said she would marry the person, who could guess that some lady had already used it. The prince and his brother wanted some sandal powder. The shopkeeper offered the powder, which the princess had given him.

Immediately the prince said: “This has already been used by some lady. I want some fresh powder.” The shopkeeper asked them to wait till he got some fresh powder from inside. He slipped out through the backdoor and ran to the palace. He reported to the king.

The king invited both the young men to the palace. Then he offered the princess in marriage to the prince. The prince told the king: “I shall not marry until my brother also gets a suitable bride.” So, the minister’s daughter was offered to the priest’s son.

Both the weddings were performed with great pomp. They took their wives and started travelling again. They reached another city. There, the princess of the city had found a lemon seed. She had planted the seed in the garden and it grown into a big tree. She had named the lemons “‘rice lemons”. The princess had many suitors from other kingdoms, who had come to claim her hand. But she would not consider anyone who could not guess the right name of the lemons.

When Kantirava saw the fruits he immediately guessed the name. The king was overjoyed. The princess whose name was Menaka was married to the prince. The minister’s daughter Sridevi was given in marriage to the priest’s son.

Kantirava returned to his father’s city with his two charming wives and told his story. The king was overjoyed. The prince’s mother Kanaka was brought out of prison. She wept with joy at the sight of her handsome son. The proud old king put his son on the throne, and made him the ruler of his kingdom. The wicked queens were sent away.

A Folktale sourced from Folk Tales of Karnataka by Satish Chandran.

Click here to submit your Folklore.