The Mandarin Ducks and the Lovers
A long long time ago, when kings still ruled and gods still roamed this earth, there lived a pair of Mandarin ducks beside an ancient pond. The small and beautiful pond was located in a bamboo grove outside the city gates. They both were happy and content to live beside each other.
Alas! Happiness did not last long for them.
One day a hunter came to their humble abode and caught the drake when the female wasn’t present.
The ducks were very beautiful and the cunning hunter realized that he could earn a lot of money if instead of killing and eating them, he sold the drake to the lord of the city.
As decided, the hunter arrived at the Lord’s manor and approached one of his servants. The servant, realizing that this beautiful drake would be a fitting collection for his master’s growing collection of birds and animals, decided on the spot to buy it.
The servant's decision wasn't wrong. The Noble was delighted by this event.
In the meantime when the duck finally returned home, she realized that her husband wasn’t there.
She searched everywhere, asked everyone but no one knew what had happened to her lover.
The drake was also a captive. He had tried several times to break free and escape but he was kept in a cage and the nobleman, realizing how eager he was to flee, had even assigned someone to guard him.
In one word he couldn't escape.
Days passed this way and it seemed like the two lovers will never be able to meet again.
However, in the mansion of the Noble, worked a young maid. She was a very kind-hearted person. She also knew how the Mandarin ducks can not live without their mates.
She was sympathetic to the drake’s plight as she also was in love with someone.
One day when everyone was busy preparing for a festival, she secretly went to the cage and set the drake free.
This however did not go unnoticed by her lover who was in charge of taking care of Drake.
But he chose to remain silent as he was afraid that his lover would get severely punished.
The noble was not a kind man and thus it does not require any imagination to guess how palpable his anger was regarding this event.
All his anger fell on the young servant who was the maid’s lover as he thought it was his negligence that had let the drake escape.
The servant was given a death sentence. In those days, it was not unusual for nobles to sentence their servants to death for small matters.
This episode was no exception.
The young lovers were heartbroken.
The maid implored the young man to reveal the truth of the matter to their lord so that he can be spared. But the Young man was stubborn and stuck to his words. He did not want his lover to suffer the cruelties and thus chose to keep silent regarding her involvement.
Soon the date was decided.
The execution was to be held on the first day of next month. It was just ten days away.
As the day drew near, it pushed the lovers slowly to the abyss of despair.
Soon they were to part, never to meet again.
When just two days were left, a pair of messengers arrived in the city. They identified themselves as the messenger from the imperial palace.
They have been traveling to give the imperial decree to various Lords of the Domains.
According to the Imperial Decree, the Emperor had abolished capital punishment. Anyone guilty of such a crime has to be handed over to the Imperial authority.
Seeing this the Nobleman happily handed the young servant over to the two messengers who assured him that they will take him back and hand him over to the Imperial force.
Soon after this, the messengers left the nobleman’s manor.
That night, the young maid had a strange dream. There she saw herself sitting beside a pond. The place was foggy and she couldn’t see anything. However, she could hear someone tell her to go to the ancient pond, outside the city gates, and there she will be able to meet her lover.
The girl woke up from her sleep soon after this. She spent her entire day anxiously. All she wanted to do was follow the voice but she couldn't.
She had to wait for the right time to make her escape. If she was caught escaping, she would also be killed or worse sold to a brothel.
Soon night fell and everyone went to sleep.
This night however unlike the previous one the girl did not sleep.
She waited for the night to deepen and when she was sure that everyone had fallen asleep, she finally made her escape.
She knew the ancient pond and thus it was easy for her to find the place even during the night.
The pond was a beautiful and silent place. But it was desolate. There was no one.
The girl was heartbroken, as all her hopes were dashed.
But as soon as she turned around to leave, she saw her lover coming towards her from the other side of the pound.
The girl could not believe her eyes.
Even though she had come, she had not believed that she would meet her lover here.
Soon the lovers were reunited.
They were blissfully happy and overjoyed at this turn of the event.
As they were happily embracing each other, the pair of mandarin ducks revealed themselves.
It turned out that the messengers were these two ducks, who had disguised themselves and gone to save the lovers. They were grateful to these lovers who had made it possible for them to live together again.
They gave the lovers direction towards a new place which was far away from this city. There they could finally start their own lives, away from people who will be able to hunt them down.
The lovers, listening to the wise counsel of the ducks, left that place before the sun came up.
The ducks also left the ancient pond and went deeper into nature’s lap, never to be seen anymore.
It is said that even today, the descendants of those lovers pass this tale among their descendants to keep the tale alive. It is also how they chose to pay respect to these two ducks who had saved their ancestors.
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