S is for Spitting Sapphires (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.

SAPPHIRE

Sapphire is the blue variety of corundum, one of the most precious gems in the world. The blue color is due to titanium and iron. Contrary to popular belief, however, not all sapphires are blue. Yellow, purple, and pink sapphires also exist. (If a corundum doesn't reach a deep enough red hue to be called a ruby, it's called pink sapphire.)

The magic tree

Gujarati folktale from India

Four friends set out to seek their fortune. One night they sleep under a mango tree. Ramji, the one keeping watch, sees three mangos fall, and hears the tree declare what will happen to those who eat them: 

one will become king 

one will laugh sapphires and cry pearls

one will go to prison. 

Then he falls asleep, and his three friends, waking up, unwittingly eat the mangos for breakfast.

Soon they end up in a city seeking to elect a new king. As foretold by the tree, the man who ate one of the mangos is chosen. His friend laughs in joy, and a sapphire falls from his lips. He realizes he can laugh sapphires and cry pearls. His royal friend immediately declares him the first minister. The other two friends go on to seek their fortune; the minister gives them a handful of his pearl-tears for the road.

However, when the friends try to sell the pearls, people think they are thieves, and one of them is arrested. He goes to prison. The king and the minister refuse to help, pretending not to know him. The remaining friend, Ramji - the one who did not eat a mango - returns angrily to the magic tree to chop it down. The tree begs to be spared, and gives him a fourth mango, telling him to feed it to a horse. The fruit transforms the horse into a magic steed, with whose help Ramji rescues his friend from prison.

They then fly to the palace, where the horse kicks the crap out of the king and the minister (telling them to "eat your sapphires and pears!"). It then flies the two friends home, and when they land, the horse transforms into a basketful of sapphires and pearls. The friends live happily ever after.

In the meantime, the king loses his throne and becomes a beggar. The minister is cursed: whenever he tries to eat, whatever he touches turns into sapphires and pearls. Thus, they are punished for their disloyalty.

Sources: Read the story (in Hungarian) here.

Which mango would you have chosen?