R is for Ruby Revenge (Gemstone Folklore)

 Welcome to the 2022 A to Z Blogging Challenge! My theme this year is Gemstone Folklore. Because I love stories about shiny things. Read the introduction to the project here.

RUBY

Ruby is the red variety of corundum (aluminum oxide), one of the hardest minerals on earth. It gains its signature red-pink color from chromium. For much of history, rubies were deemed more valuable than diamonds because of their color. I found dozens of tales and legends about them, so this time, it was a matter of picking favorites.

(Warning: this one gets a bit bloody.)

The story of Prince Mahbub

Folktale from India

The beginning of this story is not too nice, but the rest more than makes up for it by being fascinating. It begins with a Persian king who doesn't have a son, so he adopts a butcher's boy as his own. The adopted child grows up to be evil because of his lowly birth (yikes). However, the queen later becomes pregnant unexpectedly. The adopted son, hearing the news, sneaks into the palace and kills the king, taking over the empire. The queen flees, and gives birth to her son, Mahbub, in hiding.

Time goes by, and the young prince accidentally reveals himself to his tyrant brother in an archery contest. He manages to get away, but he and his mother have to flee again ahead of their pursuers. In the wilderness they encounter a fakir, who gives them two magic objects: a torch to keep wild animals away, and a rod that has power over water. The latter, when placed in the sea, makes sure that the water in a circle around mother and son is only knee-deep. 

Using the magic rod, the queen and the prince begin crossing the ocean. They are basically surrounded by high walls of water as they wade at the bottom, seeing many sea creatures and endless wonders on their strange journey. In the middle of the ocean, they notice a current of water that is carrying brilliant rubies. Mahbub secretly plucks one out of the water and hides it.

Arriving to a new city, the prince sells the ruby and it ends up in the king's possession, who gifts it to his daughter. However, the princess overhears some birds making fun of her for having just one ruby instead of a pair, so she demands to be given a second, identical gem. The king asks Mahbub to provide one.

The prince returns to the ocean with the magic rod, and follows the current, seeking the origin point of the rubies. He eventually reaches a whirlpool where he sees a column of water rising into the air, spouting rubies. He jumps into the whirlpool and swims down. He enters a magical underwater realm through a gate - and there finds his beheaded father, whose blood is dripping into a stream, transforming into rubies. 

The body is cared for by peris, fairy maidens. Suddenly, the fakir appears, and reveals the truth: the king was one of the Magi, commanding genies and peris, and therefore he cannot truly die. At the touch of his son, the king's body heals and he comes back to life; they return to the Queen together. Mahbub goes to the princess and her father, and demonstrates his newfound power: he cuts his finger, drips his blood into a cup of water, and every drop turns into a ruby. Thus proving he is true royalty, he conquers his father's kingdom, and executes the tyrant (whose blood turns into toads.)

There is a lot to unpack in this tale, but I just can't tear myself away from the visual effects of the underwater journey and the floating rubies.

Sources: You can read this story here. Interestingly, the motif of rubies in water originating from someone's blood is fairly common in many Asian tales. In one from Bengal it is a maiden whose blood-rubies appear in a whirlpool, and a prince manages to bring her back to life. Another variant of the same, from India, has the hero kill a giant who is keeping the maiden hostage.

Other stories: One tale from Punjab features a Ruby Prince, a child mysteriously born from a ruby. When his wife questions where he came from, he disappears, and she has to fulfill a task to win him back. In another tale from India, a clever turtle uses a ruby to save a deer from a hunter. In a fun one from Simla, a woman hides rubies in bread, and later joins the police to save her husband who's kidnapped for the gems. There is a shorter tale from India where a ruby breaks into small pieces when it is taken by a greedy person. A while ago I also blogged about a myth about the origin of rubies from Myanmar. There is also a very amusing Spanish legend about a king who sneezes a ruby.

The conversion of bodily fluids into gems is actually not uncommon in folklore.

People in stories sneeze, spit, bleed, or even pee gemstones sometimes.

Would you accept such a superpower?