Kamini and the Secret Pool
Smashwords Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Charles Cozic
All rights reserved.
Cover design by Aung Min Min
Copyright © 2009 by Aung Min Min
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In a small village by the Ganges River in India, lived a young girl named Kamini, who was admired by many for her beauty and kindness. There were also three other girls her age in the village. These girls had grown jealous of Kamini and made up a plan to play a trick on her. One day, the girls told Kamini that they had thrown all their trinkets and beads into a pool of water at the river. They said this would please Varuna, the river god, and bring them good luck. So they urged Kamini to do the same.
Kamini and the girls went to the pool near a giant banyan tree. Kamini removed her necklace, copper bracelets, and shiny bangles. She threw them into the water, praying that Varuna would grant her good luck as well.
Just as she threw her trinkets into the water, the other girls laughed loudly and collected their jewels which were hidden under a bush. They skipped away laughing and mocking Kamini for being so foolish. Kamini stood alone under the banyan tree. Her sad face was reflected in the water.
"Pool! Pool!" cried Kamini. "Please show me my beads!" She repeated this twice more, until finally the pool opened and a voice came up from below.
"Come down, dear girl, for your trinkets are here," a woman's voice called.
Kamini stepped nervously to the big opening that had appeared in the water and carefully made her way into a large dark cave below the water's surface. Kamini gasped when she spotted an old wrinkled woman, with only one arm.
"Laugh at me!" cried the old woman. "Laugh at me and my ugliness!" But Kamini was filled with compassion and said, "No, woman, I shall not laugh or mock you. I do not find you ugly."
"Well, then," said the old woman, her voice softening a bit, "clean up my cave. Make the bed, sweep the floor, and wash the dirty dishes. Then I will give you back your things." Then a tear trickled down her wrinkled face as she saw Kamini beginning these chores.When the old woman spoke again, her voice had lost all its harshness and was kind and gentle.
She asked Kamini how it was that she had thrown all her trinkets into the river, and heard how she had been tricked by the other girls.
"Kamini, you are full of compassion," said the old woman. "Your kindness to me proves how good and gentle you are. But you are in terrible danger down here, and without my help you would never see your village again."
"This cave is home to Partha, the giant crocodile-god," the old woman continued. "He will return soon and would tear you apart. Go hide behind this wall. I'll think of a way of getting you back to sunshine and moonlight, singing and dancing, to the kind of life I knew before I fell into this same pool forty years ago and lost my arm to a crocodile's jaws and became his slave."
Kamini shook from fright and the cave's dampness. Hidden behind the wall, Kamini then heard footsteps like thunder and a voice booming, "Who is here? I smell a human being!"
"You are dreaming, Partha," said the old woman. How could a human being come down here and not be drowned?"
"That is true. I am so hungry I must be imagining things."