The Gold Ring
A short story by Ranjit K. Sahu
The bridge would be your landmark if you walk to the site. There would be eager villagers to guide you to the spot. They have done it many a times and keep doing it every day when the monsoons have passed and the rain fed river goes nearly dry. The legend has it that the gold ring still shines when the flood waters recede and the sand is loose and can be scrapped with bare hands. No less a reward for stopping by the village of Mohanpur.
Years ago they say there was a fatal boat capsize when the princess of the then kingdom was trying to cross the river in a boat to travel to the house of her in-laws. There had been warnings about the ominous timings by astrologers and Brahmins but the bride’s father-in-law who was educated in London decided to override their advice calling it as superstition. However as fate would have it, the boat capsized and the crown prince and his bride both drowned in the spate in the river. The prince had been wearing the ring which would empower him to inherit the kingdom. Thus as soon as the floods had receded there was a rush to locate the ring so an heir could be decided from amongst the king’s relatives. However the ring could never be retrieved for some strange reason.
You would be surprised at the fact that the sand is hardly a few feet deep as you wade into the shallow water of the rain fed river and start scrapping around to feel the metal touch your hands. In fact now people have placed a rock close enough so you could sit and try to retrieve the ring Villagers after many decades were quick to cash on the adventure and build around the fable as the story of the ring spread far and wide. Some even say the real ring had been retrieved long ago and this is the villagers’ ploy to attract tourists and keep the economy running!
Feel the metal and try to grab it with all your might and if you can catch a glimpse of the glitter of gold in the sunlight on a bright day, consider yourself lucky!
If you are more imaginative, you may even experience the ring being on a palm clasped by another palm. Some say the bride and groom held their hands tight as the floods swallowed them. Their bodies were kind of dug out later without their hands as those were trapped in some unknown substratum or among tight rocks.
You are certain to struggle for hours but in the end you would realize that your time is more precious than that little bit of gold and head back.
As you head back after an afternoon of trials and tribulations and dragged into a bygone era, laugh at yourself for being fooled by the glitter of gold and chasing an El Dorado when you knew at the back of your mind you would fail too!. You would be welcomed by the villagers with nourishing foods and drinks some of which are special to the locality. Do not forget to relish those and enjoy the villager’s hospitality.
Surely you are not smarter than many before you who had attempted the retrieval! Maybe you would return with some of your ego lost and a better sense of life without gold?
Bio: Ranjit K. Sahu is a poet, writer and visual artist living in the USA. He also writes in Odia.
—
