Who Is More Beautiful Than Me?

P. Raja Lives in Pondicherry. Widely published with 38 books in English and 14 in Tamil, contributed to Encyclopedia of Post-Colonial Literature in English (London), and wrote scripts for TV. A former Council Member of Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi. He edits Transfire, a literary quarterly.

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A lovely country was once ruled by a beautiful queen who had a more beautiful daughter. The queen was all praise for her daughter that the young princess was headlong in love with herself. She stood before the looking glass and with her head and chest up asked loudly at her image: “Who is more beautiful than me?” She giggled and answered herself: “I am a class of my own. Who can be more beautiful than me?”

The power above was thinking differently and wanted to teach her a lesson, so that her pride would have a fall. Accordingly it chose an old and haggard-looking woman to do the job. She had nothing but a torn sari on and wrinkles showed all over her body. One evening the princess was having a stroll on the bank of the river. The old lady approached the princess and said, “Not eaten for days….please help.”

The princess twitched her nose as a sign of disgust and told the old lady to go away. But the old lady instead went closer to her and said, “You are the would-be queen and if you don’t give me food, who will give me?” The angry princess in her fit of fury said, “Get lost, you old hag! Do not come anywhere near me and spoil the beauty of my dear garments.”