STORY OF A YOUNG GIRL

                                    "THE HOUSE OF PLENTY"

Not long ago, there lived Clarissa the daughter of a very rich dealer in pearls and jewels who had everything in plenty. She was on of those who were considered fortunate enough to have everything they wanted. Did she express a wish? – it was instantly gratified.  A desire? – it was granted.

She had a devoted father and mother, an insignificant sister and a spoilt brother. She had beautiful clothes and jewels, servants to wait upon her and fulfil her lightest whims and laughing maidens to bear her company. The most expensive dresses and perfumes and bath salts. The most handsome of young men paid her visits and sought in vain for her hand and were ready to buy any number of earrings and pendants from Tiffany’s to prove their devotion. And yet, the loneliness of the Clarrisa was greater than the poorest beggar in the city.

One could see the pleasure laden girl surrounded by her court with a sad, solitary soul- stuffed with happiness, suffocated with luxury, starving in the house of plenty. There did she sit, reclining on an ornate divan. An unusual riot of eastern colours pervaded the scene. The maiden wore a marvellous gown of strange embroideries; her golden hair fell round the ivory heart shaped face. Comely servants surrounded her, each trying to please their mistress with any amount of gossip that they could collect. The entire scene was one of  homely happiness.

But Clarrisa’s face was turned away. She was oblivious to the laughter and mirth around her. Her gaze was fixed on the night sky. She was looking at the moon . The beautiful pale orb shining in an enormous dark horizon. The eyes of the girl were laid on it with a strange sympathy- as though a dawning sense of her own isolation drew her glance irresistibly. They were akeen, these two. A lonely girl looking at the solitary moon.

That night Clarrisa had a strange dream. In it she heard her name called. Going to the window she saw a shabbily dressed man was standing in their garden looking straight into her eyes. She shivered. Though the man looked haggard and thin, the joy on his face was inexplicable. She felt a pang of jealousy at such happiness. Then she heard the thick baritone and yet sonorous voice of him. He claimed that he could grant her happiness but only if she could leave all her worldly luxuries behind and accompany him to the cheerful realms of life. The sad maiden,  desperate for escape, agreed. She left all her velvets and satins behind and wore a simple gown of cotton. They started their journey. They had to walk, the man said- for there was no other way of going where they were headed to.

Through their journey the man hummed a strange tune. In her joy and freedom, Clarrisa had forgotten that against the man’s condition, she had carried a gold ring. She needed the assurance of money to feel safe. Suddenly, she felt the weight of the ring in the pockets of her gown. The weight kept on increasing till she could not move anymore. It was not long when she could not journey any further. She cried in despair and called the man- but it was as if he could not hear her at all. He went on humming his tune and slowly disappeared into the darkness leaving her behind.

In the night she could only see the moon above her head- alone and forlorn.

Next morning, when the maid went to wake Clarrisa , she found her mistress already awake. Her eyes had faraway look in them and she did not speak. Since then Clarrisa had never spoken again. And although she had all the riches a woman could ever want, she never even looked at them. Her head turned, she would stare into the open sky- her eyes would look with a strange sympathy at the moon as if they had a curse to share…….

–END–

                                                                                         SOURCE BY-RAJDEEP CHANDA

PUBLISHED BY-OURHELLO.COM