The Rainbow Prince
The beautiful and spoilt Princess Rupanjali is determined to marry only the Rainbow Prince. When she hears that he is trapped in the body of a red parrot she orders that every bird in the kingdom be trapped and caged. When her maid Nilanjana protests at her cruelty, Rupanjali has her thrown into the cage too. When the new king ignores his old friend the shepherd, he wakes up the next morning with billions of needles poking his skin. Removing one makes two more grow back. As he lies in agony, his queen must find a way of helping him. In these two folk-tales from Bengal, arrogance is always punished – even in a prince or princess.
