The Boy with a Moon on his Forehead and a Star on his Chin
Adapted from Indian Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs (1892)
In a distant land, there lived seven daughters of poor parents who would come each day to play beneath the shady trees in the King’s garden with the gardener’s daughter. Every day, the gardener’s daughter would tell her friends, “When I am married, I shall have a son. He will be the most beautiful boy ever seen, with a moon on his forehead and a star on his chin.” Her playmates would laugh and mock her for such fanciful dreams.
One day, the King overheard the gardener’s daughter speaking of this extraordinary child she would someday have. The King, who had four Queens but no children, thought to himself how wonderful it would be to have such a remarkable son. So he approached the gardener and expressed his wish to marry the gardener’s daughter.
The gardener and his wife were overjoyed at the prospect of their daughter becoming a princess. They readily agreed to the King’s proposal and invited all their friends to celebrate the wedding. The King invited his friends as well and gave the gardener as much money as he desired. The wedding was celebrated with great feasting and joy.
A year later, as the time approached for the gardener’s daughter to give birth, the King’s four other Queens visited her frequently. One day they said to her, “The King hunts every day, and soon you will have your child. What would you do if you fell ill while he was away hunting and knew nothing of your condition?”
That evening, when the King returned from hunting, the gardener’s daughter asked him, “Every day you go hunting. If I should ever be in trouble or become ill while you’re away, how could I reach you?” The King gave her a kettle-drum, which he placed near the door, and said, “Whenever you need me, beat this drum. No matter how far away I am, I will hear it and come to you at once.”
The next morning, after the King had gone hunting, his four other Queens came to visit the gardener’s daughter. She told them about the kettle-drum. “Oh,” they said, “why don’t you try it to see if the King really will come when you beat it?”
“No,” she replied, “why should I call him away from his hunting when I don’t need him?”
“Don’t worry about interrupting his hunting,” they insisted. “Just try it to see if he truly will come when you beat the drum.” Finally, to please them, she beat the drum, and immediately the King appeared before her.
“Why have you called me?” he asked. “I left my hunting to come to you.”
“I need nothing,” she answered. “I only wanted to know if you would really come when I beat the drum.”
“Very well,” said the King, “but don’t call me again unless you truly need me.” Then he returned to his hunting.
The following day, when the King had gone hunting as usual, the four Queens again visited the gardener’s daughter. They begged her to beat the drum once more, just to see if the King would come again. At first she refused, but eventually she gave in to their persistent requests. She beat the drum, and the King came to her. Finding that she was neither ill nor in trouble, he grew angry.
“Twice I have left my hunting and lost my game to come to you when you didn’t need me,” he said. “Now you may call me as much as you like, but I will not come to you.” With that, he left in a rage.
On the third day, the gardener’s daughter fell ill, and she beat her kettle-drum desperately. But the King never came. He heard the drum but thought, “She doesn’t really need me; she’s only testing to see if I will go to her.”
Meanwhile, the four Queens visited her and said, “In our kingdom, it is customary to blindfold a mother before her child is born so she cannot see the baby right away. Let us bind your eyes.” The gardener’s daughter agreed, and they tied a handkerchief over her eyes.
Soon after, she gave birth to a beautiful baby boy with a moon on his forehead and a star on his chin. But before the poor mother could see him, the four jealous Queens took the infant to the nurse and instructed her, “You must not let this child make the slightest sound, for fear his mother might hear him. During the night, you must either kill him or take him away so his mother never sees him. If you obey our orders, we will reward you with many rupees.” All this they did out of spite.
The nurse placed the little child in a box, and the four Queens returned to the gardener’s daughter. First, they put a stone in the baby’s cradle, then removed the blindfold from the mother’s eyes and showed her the stone, saying, “Look! This is your son!” The poor woman wept bitterly, wondering what the King would say when he discovered there was no child. But there was nothing she could do.
When the King returned home, he was furious to learn that his youngest wife, the gardener’s daughter, had given him a stone instead of the beautiful son she had promised. He made her a palace servant and never spoke to her again.
In the middle of the night, the nurse took the box containing the beautiful little prince and went to a broad plain in the jungle. There she dug a hole, secured the box, and buried it, even though the child inside was still alive. The King’s dog, named Shankar, had followed her to see what she would do with the box. As soon as the nurse returned to the four Queens (who rewarded her handsomely), the dog went to the hole, dug up the box, and opened it.
When Shankar saw the beautiful baby boy, he was delighted and said, “If it pleases God that this child should live, I will not harm him. I will not eat him, but I will swallow him whole and hide him in my stomach.” And so he did.
After six months had passed, the dog went by night to the jungle and thought, “I wonder whether the boy is alive or dead.” He brought the child out of his stomach and was overjoyed to see the baby’s beauty. The boy was now six months old. After Shankar had cuddled and loved him, he swallowed him again for another six months.
At the end of that time, he returned once more by night to the jungle plain. There he brought the child out of his stomach (the boy was now a year old), petted him, and was filled with happiness at the child’s extraordinary beauty.
But this time, the dog’s keeper had followed and watched Shankar. He saw everything the dog did and caught sight of the beautiful child with a moon on his forehead and a star on his chin. He ran to the four Queens and exclaimed, “Inside the King’s dog there is a child! The most beautiful child ever seen! He has a moon on his forehead and a star on his chin. Such a child has never been seen before!”
The four wives were terrified by this news. As soon as the King returned from hunting, they said to him, “While you were away, your dog came into our rooms, tore our clothes, and knocked over all our things. We fear he will kill us.”
“Don’t be afraid,” said the King. “Enjoy your dinner and be happy. I will have the dog shot tomorrow morning.”
Then he ordered his servants to shoot the dog at dawn. But Shankar overheard him and thought, “What shall I do? The King plans to kill me. I don’t care about myself, but what will happen to the child if I die? He will die too. I must try to save him.”
That night, the dog ran to the King’s cow, named Suri, and said, “Suri, I need to give you something important, for the King has ordered me to be shot tomorrow. Will you take great care of what I give you?”
“Let me see what it is,” said Suri. “I will care for it if I can.” Together they went to the wide plain, and there the dog brought up the boy. Suri was enchanted with him.
“I have never seen such a beautiful child in this country,” she said. “Look, he has a moon on his forehead and a star on his chin. I will take the greatest care of him.” With that, she swallowed the little prince. The dog bowed to her many times and said, “Tomorrow I shall die.” Then the cow returned to her stable.
The next morning at dawn, the dog was taken to the jungle and shot.
The child now lived in Suri’s stomach. When a whole year had passed and the boy was two years old, the cow went out to the plain and thought, “I wonder if the child is alive or dead. I have never harmed him, so I will see.” She brought up the boy, and he played about while Suri watched with delight. She loved him, caressed him, and talked to him. Then she swallowed him again and returned to her stable.
After another year, she again went to the plain and brought up the child. He played and ran about for an hour, to her great joy, and she talked to him and cuddled him. His extraordinary beauty made her very happy. Then she swallowed him once more and returned to her stable. The child was now three years old.
But this time the cowherd had followed Suri and had seen the wonderful child and everything she did with him. He ran and told the four Queens, “The King’s cow has a beautiful boy inside her! He has a moon on his forehead and a star on his chin. Such a child has never been seen before!”
The Queens were terrified. They tore their clothes and hair and wept. When the King came home that evening, he asked why they were so distressed. “Oh,” they cried, “your cow tried to attack us, but we ran away. She tore our hair and our clothes.”
“Never mind,” said the King. “Eat your dinner and be happy. The cow will be killed tomorrow morning.”
Suri overheard the King give this order to his servants, so she wondered, “What can I do to save the child?” At midnight, she went to the King’s horse named Katar, who was extremely wild and completely untamable. No one had ever been able to ride him; indeed, no one could safely approach him, he was so savage.
Suri said to the horse, “Katar, will you take care of something precious that I must give you? The King has ordered me to be killed tomorrow.”
“Very well,” said Katar. “Show me what it is.” Then Suri brought up the child, and the horse was delighted with him. “Yes,” he said, “I will take the greatest care of him. Until now, no one has been able to ride me, but this child shall ride me.” Then he swallowed the boy, and when he had done so, the cow bowed to him many times, saying, “It is for this boy’s sake that I am to die.” The next morning she was taken to the jungle and killed.
The beautiful boy now lived in the horse’s stomach for a whole year. At the end of that time, the horse thought, “I will see if this child is alive or dead.” So he brought him up, and then he loved him and petted him, and the little prince played all around the stable, from which the horse was never allowed to leave. Katar was very happy to see the child, who was now four years old. After the boy had played for some time, the horse swallowed him again. At the end of another year, when the boy was five years old, Katar brought him up again, caressed him, loved him, and let him play around the stable as he had done a year before. Then the horse swallowed him again.
But this time the groom had seen everything that happened. In the morning, when the King had gone hunting, he went to the four wicked Queens and told them all he had witnessed—about the wonderful, beautiful child living inside the King’s horse Katar.
Upon hearing the groom’s story, the four Queens wept, tore their hair and clothes, and refused to eat. When the King returned in the evening and asked why they were so miserable, they said, “Your horse Katar came and tore our clothes, upset all our things, and we ran away fearing he would kill us.”
“Never mind,” said the King. “Just eat your dinner and be happy. I will have Katar shot tomorrow.” Then, thinking that two men alone could not kill such a dangerous horse, he ordered his servants to assemble his troop of soldiers to shoot the animal.
The next day, the King positioned his soldiers all around the stable and took his own position among them. He declared that he would personally shoot anyone who let the horse escape.
Meanwhile, the horse had overheard all these orders. So he brought up the child and said to him, “Go into that small room that leads out of the stable. There you will find a saddle and bridle which you must put on me. You will also find beautiful clothes fit for a prince; put these on yourself. Take the sword and gun you will find there too. Then you must mount on my back.”
Now Katar was a magical horse from the fairy country, so he could obtain anything he wanted, though neither the King nor any of his people knew this. When all was ready, Katar burst out of his stable with the prince on his back. He rushed past the King himself before the King had time to shoot, galloped away to the great jungle plain, and raced all over it. The King saw his horse had a boy on his back, though he could not see the boy clearly. The soldiers tried in vain to shoot the horse; he galloped much too fast. Eventually, they were all scattered across the plain. Finally, the King had to give up and go home, and the soldiers returned to their quarters. The King could not punish any of his men for letting the horse escape, for he himself had failed to stop him.
Then Katar galloped away, on and on and on. When night fell, they rested under a tree—the horse and the King’s son. The horse ate grass, and the boy ate wild fruits he found in the jungle. The next morning they set off again, traveling far until they came to a jungle in another country, which belonged to a different king.
Here Katar said to the boy, “Now get off my back.” The prince jumped down. “Unsaddle me and remove my bridle. Take off your fine clothes and tie them all in a bundle with your sword and gun.” The boy did as instructed. Then the horse gave him some poor, common clothes to wear. Once the boy had changed into them, the horse said, “Hide your bundle in this grass, and I will guard it for you. I will always stay in this jungle plain, so whenever you need me, you will find me here. Now you must go and find work with someone in this country.”
This made the boy very sad. “I know nothing about anything,” he said. “What will I do all alone in this strange land?”
“Don’t be afraid,” answered Katar. “You will find work, and I will always be here to help you when you need me. Now go, but before you leave, twist my right ear.” The boy did so, and instantly the horse transformed into a donkey. “Now twist your right ear,” said Katar. When the boy twisted his own ear, he was no longer a handsome prince but a poor, common-looking, ugly man, and his moon and star were hidden.
Then he ventured deeper into the country until he met a grain merchant who asked him who he was. “I am a poor man,” answered the boy, “and I need work.” “Good,” said the grain merchant, “you shall be my servant.”
The grain merchant lived near the King’s palace. One night at midnight, the boy felt very hot, so he went into the King’s cool garden and began to sing a beautiful song. The seventh and youngest daughter of the King heard him and wondered who could sing so enchantingly. She dressed, arranged her hair, and went down to where the seemingly poor, common man lay singing.
“Who are you? Where do you come from?” she asked.
But he gave no answer.
“How strange that this man doesn’t respond when I speak to him,” thought the little princess, and she went away. On the second night, the same thing happened, and on the third night too. But on the third night, when she found he still wouldn’t answer, she said to him, “What a peculiar man you are, not to answer when I speak to you.”
But still he remained silent, so she asked him, “Why do you come to my father’s garden?”
“To sing,” he answered.
“You cannot come here,” she said. “If the King discovers you, he will have you killed.”
“I am not afraid,” replied the boy. “I will only sing, and then go away.”
This conversation continued for many nights, and gradually the princess grew to love the mysterious singer, though she had never seen his face clearly in the darkness. One night she said to him, “I love you. Will you marry me?”
The boy answered, “Yes, I will marry you, but only if the King will give you to a poor man like me.”
The princess told her father that she wished to marry the grain merchant’s servant. The King was deeply displeased and said, “I will never give you in marriage to a poor man like that.” But she insisted, “I will marry him and no one else.” Finally, the King agreed, but he added, “If you marry him, you must live in the servants’ quarters, not in the palace. You will be as if you were no longer my daughter.”
The princess accepted these conditions, and she and the boy were married, and went to live in the servants’ quarters. She was very happy with her husband, but the other servants laughed at her, saying, “How could a princess marry such a poor, ugly man?” The princess paid no attention to their mockery.
At night, her husband would disappear for several hours. She asked him many times where he went, but he would never tell her. So one night she decided to follow him secretly. She saw him go to the jungle plain, where he twisted his right ear and instantly became a handsome prince with a moon on his forehead and a star on his chin. Then he twisted the ear of a donkey standing nearby, and it transformed into a magnificent horse. The prince mounted the horse and rode away.
The princess was astonished and delighted. She returned home quickly before her husband and said nothing about what she had seen. The next day, she went to her father and said, “Father, you think I have married a poor, common man, but that is not true. My husband is a wonderful prince with a moon on his forehead and a star on his chin. At night he becomes his true self and rides a magical horse.”
The King didn’t believe her and said, “Prove it to me.”
So the princess invited her father to come to her house that night. She showed him a small hole through which he could watch without being seen. At midnight, her husband twisted his ear, transformed into his true princely form, and left. The King was amazed and overjoyed. He immediately welcomed his son-in-law as a prince and gave them a beautiful palace to live in.
From then on, the prince no longer hid his true identity. He told his wife and father-in-law his entire story—how he was born with the moon and star, how the jealous Queens had tried to kill him, and how he had been saved by the dog, the cow, and finally the horse.
When the princess’s six sisters heard about their brother-in-law’s true identity, they too wanted to marry princes. The King sent messengers to find suitable princes for his other daughters. Meanwhile, the young prince decided to return to his father’s kingdom to reveal the truth and restore his mother’s honor.
He journeyed back with his wife, riding on Katar. When they reached his father’s palace, the prince sent a message saying, “The boy with the moon on his forehead and the star on his chin has returned.”
When the King heard this, he remembered the son that had been promised to him long ago. He invited the prince to his court, and there the young man told his entire story. The King was filled with joy to find his long-lost son and with rage at the deception of his four Queens. He immediately restored the gardener’s daughter to her rightful place as his beloved wife and Queen.
As for the four wicked Queens who had caused so much suffering, they were banished from the kingdom forever. The prince and his beautiful princess lived happily with his parents, and when the old King died, the prince with the moon on his forehead and the star on his chin became a wise and beloved ruler.
This enchanting tale reminds us that truth and goodness will eventually triumph over jealousy and deception. The extraordinary prince with celestial marks symbolizes the divine potential within each of us, while the loyal animals represent the unexpected helpers we may find along life’s journey.
