Welcome to another enchanting episode of Drift Off.
I'm your host Joanne,
And tonight we embark on a journey into the pages of Andrew Lang's Olaf fairy book to discover a whimsical Indian tale called Dorani.
Before we delve into the realm of dreams with tonight's enchanting tale,
Let's take a moment to let go of the cares of the day and embrace the tranquility of this special time.
So find a comfortable position,
Whether you're lying down or nestled in your favorite chair,
Close your eyes if you wish,
And let the world outside begin to fade away and to help you relax.
Let's begin by taking a few deep breaths,
So when you're ready,
Take a full comfortable breath,
Hold it for a moment,
And exhale slowly.
Feel the weight of the day lifting off your shoulders with each breath out,
And as you breathe in,
Imagine inhaling the calming energy,
And as you exhale,
Release any tension or worries.
Let this rhythmic breathing be your anchor,
Grounding you in the present moment.
Now bring your awareness to your body.
You might imagine a warm wave of relaxation moving up through your body.
Allow this gentle wave of relaxation now to flow through your toes,
Your feet,
Your legs,
Up through your hips,
And into your torso.
Feel this wave of relaxation flowing into your fingers,
Your hands,
Your arms,
Up through your shoulders,
And into your neck.
Your body feels so relaxed as this wave of relaxation flows all the way up to the top of your head.
Feel that relaxation melt away any tension in your head and face.
Your crown tingles with relaxation.
Your forehead and brows smooth out.
Your eyes soften.
Your jaw relaxes.
Your entire body feels relaxed,
Peaceful,
And calm.
And as we embark on tonight's storytelling journey,
Let this moment of relaxation linger.
Embrace the peace within,
And know that this time and space is yours.
A sanctuary for your rest and relaxation.
And so,
As always my friend,
Settling comfortably under those covers.
And once again,
Take another full,
Comfortable breath.
And as you exhale,
Relax and let go.
Allow any lingering tension to just melt away,
Letting go and sinking deeper and deeper down into the softness of your bed or chair.
There is nothing left to do,
And nowhere else to be.
So just lay back,
Relax and enjoy the story.
Once upon a time,
There lived in a city of Hindustan,
A seller of scents and essences,
Who had a very beautiful daughter named Durrani.
This maiden had a friend who was a fairy,
And the two were high in favor with Indra,
The king of Fairyland,
Because they were able to sing so sweetly,
And dance so deftly,
That no one in the kingdom could equal them for grace and beauty.
Durrani had the most lovely hair in the world,
For it was like spun gold,
And the smell of it was like the smell of fresh roses.
But her locks were so long and thick that the weight of it was often unbearable,
And one day,
She cut off a shining dress,
And wrapping it in a large leaf,
Threw it in the river which ran just below her window.
Now it happened that the king's son was out hunting,
And had gone down to the river to drink,
When there floated towards him a folded leaf from which came a perfume of roses.
The prince,
With idle curiosity,
Took a step into the water,
And caught the leaf as it was sailing by.
He opened it,
And within,
He found a lock of hair like spun gold,
And from which came a faint exquisite odor.
When the prince reached home that day,
He looked so sad,
And was so quiet,
That his father wondered if any ill had befallen him,
And asked what was the matter.
Then the youth took from his breast the tress of hair which he had found in the river,
And holding it up to the light,
Replied,
See,
My father,
Was ever hair like this?
Unless I may win and marry the maiden that owns that lock,
I must die.
So the king immediately sent heralds throughout all his dominions to search for the damsel with hair like spun gold,
And at last he learned that she was the daughter of the scent seller.
The object of the herald's mission was quickly noised abroad,
And Durrani heard of it with the rest,
And one day she said to her father,
If the hair is mine,
And the king requires me to marry his son,
I must do so.
But remember,
You must tell him that if,
After the wedding,
I stay all day at the palace,
Every night will be spent in my old home.
The old man listened to her with amazement,
But answered nothing,
As he knew she was wiser than he.
Of course,
The hair was Durrani's,
And heralds soon returned and informed the king,
Their master,
Who summoned the scent seller and told him that he wished for his daughter to be given in marriage to the prince.
The father bowed his head three times to the ground and replied,
Your highness is our lord,
And all that you bid us we will do.
The maiden asks this only,
That if,
After the wedding,
She stays all day at the palace,
She may go back each night to her father's house.
The king thought this was a very strange request,
But said to himself it was,
After all,
His son's affair,
And the girl would surely soon get tired of going to and fro.
So he made no difficulty,
And everything was speedily arranged,
And the wedding was celebrated with great rejoicings.
At first,
The condition attaching to his wedding with the lovely Durrani troubled the prince very little,
For he thought that he would at least see his bride all day.
But to his dismay,
He found that she would do nothing but sit the whole time upon a stool with her head bowed forward upon her knees,
And he could never persuade her to say a single word.
Each evening she was carried in a palanquin to her father's house,
And each morning she was brought back soon after daybreak,
And yet never a sound passed her lips,
Nor did she show by any sign that she saw,
Or heard,
Or heeded her husband.
One evening,
The prince,
Very unhappy and troubled,
Was wandering in an old and beautiful garden near the palace.
The gardener was a very aged man,
Who had served the prince's great-grandfather,
And when he saw the prince,
He came and bowed himself to him and said,
Child,
Child,
Why do you look so sad?
Is aught the matter?
Then the prince replied,
I am sad,
Old friend,
Because I have married a wife as lovely as the stars,
But she will not speak to me,
And I know not what to do.
Night after night she leaves me for her father's house,
And day after day she sits in mine as though turned to stone,
And utters no word,
Whatever I may do or say.
The old man stood thinking for a moment,
And then he hobbled off to his own cottage.
A little later he came back to the prince with five or six small packets,
Which he placed in his hands and said,
Tomorrow,
When your bride leaves the palace,
Sprinkle the powder from one of these packets upon your body,
And while seeing clearly,
You will become yourself invisible.
More I cannot do for you,
But may all go well.
The prince thanked him,
And put the packets carefully away in his turban.
The next night,
When Durrani left for her father's house and her palanquin,
The prince took out a packet of the magic powder and sprinkled it over himself,
And then hurried after her.
He soon found that,
As the old man had promised,
He was invisible to everyone,
Although he felt as usual,
And could see all that passed.
He speedily overtook the palanquin,
And walked beside it to the scent-seller's dwelling.
There it was set down,
And when his bride,
Closely veiled,
Left it and entered the house,
He too entered unperceived.
At the first door,
Durrani removed one veil.
Then she entered another doorway at the end of a passage,
Where she removed another veil.
Next,
She mounted the stairs,
And at the door of the women's quarters,
Removed a third veil.
After this,
She proceeded to her own room where were set two large basins,
One of an attar of roses,
And one of water.
In these she washed herself,
And afterwards called for food.
A servant brought her a bowl of curds,
Which she ate hastily,
And then arrayed herself in a robe of silver,
And wound about her strings of pearls,
While a wreath of roses crowned her hair.
When fully dressed,
She seated herself upon a four-legged stool over which was a canopy with silken curtains.
These she drew around her,
And then called out,
Fly,
Stool,
To the palace of Raja Indra.
Instantly,
The stool rose in the air,
And the invisible prince,
Who had watched all these proceedings with great wonder,
Seized it by one leg as it flew away,
And found himself being borne through the air at a rapid rate.
In a short while,
They arrived at the house of the fairy who,
As I told you before,
Was the favorite friend of Durrani.
The fairy stood waiting on the threshold,
As beautifully dressed as Durrani herself,
And when the stool stopped at her door,
She cried in astonishment.
Why,
The stool is flying all crooked today.
What is the reason of that,
I wonder?
I suspect that you have been talking to your husband,
And so it will not fly straight.
But Durrani declared that she had not spoken one word to him,
And she couldn't think why the stool flew as if weighted down at one side.
The fairy still looked doubtful,
But made no answer,
And took her seat beside Durrani,
The prince again holding tightly one leg.
Then the stool flew on through the air until it came to the palace of Indra,
The Raja.
All through the night,
The women sang and danced before the Raja Indra,
Whilst a magic lute played of itself the most bewitching music,
Till the prince,
Who sat watching it all,
Was quite entranced.
Just before dawn,
The Raja gave the signal to cease,
And again the two women seated themselves on the stool,
And with the prince clinging to the leg,
It flew back to earth,
And bore Durrani and her husband safely to the scent seller's shop.
Here the prince hurried away by himself past Durrani's palanquin with its sleepy bearers straight on to the palace,
And as he passed the threshold of his own rooms,
He became visible again.
Then he lay down upon a couch and waited for Durrani's arrival.
As soon as she arrived,
She took a seat and remained as silent as usual,
With her head bowed on her knees.
For a while,
Not a sound was heard,
But presently the prince said,
I dreamed a curious dream last night,
And as it was all about you,
I am going to tell it you,
Although you heed nothing.
The girl,
Indeed,
Took no notice of his words,
But in spite of that,
He proceeded to relate every single thing that had happened the evening before,
Leaving out no detail of all that he had seen or heard,
And when he praised her singing,
And his voice shook a little,
Durrani just looked at him,
But she said not,
Though in her own mind she was filled with wonder.
What a dream,
She thought.
Could it have been a dream?
How could he have learned in a dream all she had done or said?
Still,
She kept silent.
Only she looked that once at the prince,
And then remained all day as before,
With her head bowed upon her knees.
When night came,
The prince again made himself invisible and followed her.
The same things happened again as happened before,
But Durrani sang better than ever.
In the morning,
The prince a second time told Durrani all that she had done,
Pretending that he had dreamt of it.
Directly he had finished,
Durrani gazed at him and said,
Is it true that you dreamt this,
Or were you really there?
I was there,
Answered the prince.
But why do you follow me,
Asked the girl.
Because,
Replied the prince,
I love you,
And to be with you is happiness.
This time Durrani's eyelids quivered,
But she said no more,
And was silent the rest of the day.
However,
In the evening,
Just as she was stepping into her palanquin,
She said to the prince,
If you love me,
Prove it by not following me tonight.
And so,
The prince did as she wished,
And stayed at home.
That evening,
The magic stool flew so unsteadily that they could hardly keep their seats,
And at last the fairy exclaimed,
There is only one reason that it should jerk like this,
You've been talking to your husband,
And Durrani replied,
Yes,
I have spoken,
I have spoken,
But no more would she say.
That night,
Durrani sang so marvelously,
That at the end,
The Raja Indra rose up and vowed that she might ask what she would and he would give it to her.
At first she was silent,
But when he pressed her,
She answered,
Give me the magic loot.
The Raja,
When he heard this,
Was displeased with himself for having made so rash a promise,
Because this loot he valued above all his possessions,
But as he had promised,
So he must perform,
And with an ill grace,
He handed it to her.
You must never come here again,
Said he,
For once having asked so much,
How will you in future be content with smaller gifts?
Durrani bowed her head silently as she took the loot,
And passed with the fairy out of the great gate where the stool awaited them.
More unsteadily than before,
It flew back to earth.
When Durrani got to the palace that morning,
She asked the prince whether he had dreamt again.
He laughed with happiness,
For this time she had spoken to him of her own free will.
And he replied,
No,
But I begin to dream now,
Not of what has happened in the past,
But what may happen in the future.
That day,
Durrani sat very quietly,
But she answered the prince when he spoke to her,
And when evening fell,
And with it the time for her departure,
She still sat on.
Then the prince came close to her and said softly,
Are you not going to your house,
Durrani?
At that she rose and threw herself weeping into his arms,
Whispering gently,
Never again,
My lord,
Never again would I leave thee.
So,
The prince won his beautiful bride,
And though they neither of them dealt any further with fairies and their magic,
They learned more daily of the magic of love.
