Folktale Week 2020 Day 5: Death

 

Baridegi: Abandoned Princess

 

A king had 6 daughters and no son. When his 7th baby turned out to be another girl, the king got so mad he threw out the newborn. Baridegi(Thrown-away Thing) was raised by an old woman without knowing her real identity.

 

Years later, the king became gravely ill. The only cure was elixir and flowers from faraway land. All 6 princesses refused to make a dangerous journey for the medicine. So the king tracked down and found Bari as the last resort, and she traveled to the western land.

 

After a long adventure, Bari located the elixir and the flowers. But the guard of the medicine said she couldn’t have them until she gave him 3 sons. So she married him, gave birth to 3 boys, and only then was able to travel back home with the cure.

 

When Bari arrived at her father’s castle, she was met with the king’s funeral procession. Bari touched the king’s dead body with the flowers and moistened his mouth with elixir. Flesh and blood came back into the corpse and the king came back to life. Bari became the goddess in the land of the dead.

Thank you!
See more on Instagram