Asudem

 Chinese New Year has gone by in a twinkling of an eye and on Chap Goh Meh (the 15th night and conclusion to the new year festivities), I was invited by CC to his temple to join in the celebrations.  He said it had been beautifully decorated and it would be a pity if I missed the chance of seeing it, considering that they only light it up once a year.

CC was to give a discourse that evening and so I went early to look at the lights and the fireworks display. The temple did indeed look very lovely with all its colourful lights and lanterns.

After everybody had settled down, CC began his discourse which was held in the grounds of the temple.  I sat on a boulder at the back and had a good view of the congregation.  I was pleased to see that a few cats had also come and the rest were elderly and middle aged humans.  

Halfway through CC's discourse, I saw a woman with her head covered in a thick shawl come in and sit on the ground at the back.  I couldn't see her face because the shawl hid most of it but she appeared to be listening intently to CC. 

CC had also noticed her and when he had finished speaking, he went up to her and being naturally very curious, I also tagged along.

"Madam," said CC, smiling. "Welcome to our temple.  I haven't seen you here before.  Are you from another village?"

She nodded her head and said that her house was on the outskirts of the village.  It was getting dark, so CC offered to escort her home.  I saw that she was quite old, very frail and thin and walked with the aid of a stick.

The woman's house was further than we thought and we reached it after trudging along for something like half an hour.  Our journey was slow as the woman could not walk very fast.  It was a small dark hut and the woman went in first to light an oil lamp hanging by the window.  We saw that the hut was sparsely furnished and there were only a table, a couple of chairs and an old torn mattress for a bed.

"Please come in," she said.  CC thanked her but politely declined.  "I am sorry, Madam, but I have to get back to the temple.  I have things to do."

To our surprise, the woman suddenly burst into tears.  "Please don't go, please, please...." she sobbed.  CC and I looked at each other and of course we couldn't just leave her like that.

"What is the matter, Madam?  Can we help you?" asked CC kindly.

The woman stopped crying, wiped her tears, then said imploringly to CC, "Please, you've got to help me!"

"Sure, if I can," replied CC, looking a bit baffled.

The woman sat down, composed herself, then whispered, "My name is Asudem.  I live all alone here.  My father died a few years ago and since then my stepmother had been very cruel to me.  She dabbles in witchcraft and had always been jealous of my youth and beauty, then one day in her wrath, she put this curse on me, then chased me out of my father's house ..... I've been wandering round on my own since then...." 

She paused for a while, then continued.

"I didn't know what to do.  I dared not go near people because of my appearance.  Luckily, a kind witch who knew what my stepmother had done, felt sorry for me. Although she could not undo another witch's curse, she could tell me how to get rid of the spell.  She told me that only a monk who has a kind and compassionate heart can save me and I should look for him. When I chanced upon your temple and listened to your discourse, I knew at once you are the one to save me!"

CC was looking rather bewildered now.

"Er...me?  But how?" he asked.

The woman then pleaded, "If I show you what the curse did to me, promise you won't be frightened and run away, please?"

CC agreed though I could see he did not know what to expect.  He does have a heart of gold and will do anything to help anyone in distress.

The woman then slowly removed the shawl from her head and what we saw made us reel in shock and horror!  The woman's head was covered with live snakes which were hissing loudly as they crawled about!

Seeing how frightened we were, she quickly covered her head with her shawl and dropped on her knees before CC.

"Please help me," she cried, tears running down her face.  

A shaking CC managed to pull himself together, then stammered: "But what must I do?  I haven't the faintest idea how to remove the curse!"

The woman replied, "The kind witch said all I need to do is to bathe in 9 tubs of holy water sprinkled with sprigs of willow and the curse will be removed!"

CC thought for a moment.  "Well, I think I can arrange it but you must give me some time, at least another two or three days," he said.  The woman was so happy that she kept bowing to CC until he gently told her to take some rest.

"CC," I said when we left the hut.  "I can't imagine how she can live with those ... those horrible snakes in her hair all this time, how awful it must be!  What are you going to do?"  My legs were still weak from the shock, it was the most hideous thing I had ever seen.

 "I feel very sorry for her too," said CC.  "Look, when I get back to the temple, I shall get my monks together, if you want to help out, you're welcome."

For the next three days, CC and six monks sat before a huge container of water and chanted powerful Buddhist mantras over it from early in the morning till late at night.  I also joined in whenever I could. He had told the whole story to the Chief Monk who also sympathised with the woman's plight.  

On the fourth day, the holy water was ready.  But how to transport it to the woman?  Luckily, the Chief Monk had connections and he borrowed a friend's lorry and that very night, CC drove it with the water (which had now been divided into nine containers with sprigs of willow in each container) to the river bank as instructed by Asudem.  I sat at the back of the lorry to make sure the containers did not fall out. 

Asudem said she would bathe herself in the water at the stroke of midnight and was already waiting by the river bank.  She also said that it would be safer for us if we left but CC and I thought it would be better to stick around in case she needed help, so we hid behind some bushes.

Even as she spoke, the sky suddenly darkened and a strong wind started blowing.  Asudem looked up at the sky and screamed, "That evil woman knows her curse is going to be removed, she's churning up a storm to prevent me from being saved!"

"Quick, just do it, it's midnight already!" shouted CC.  With trembling hands, Asudem started pouring the holy water over her head while lightning flashed, thunder rolled and heavy rain gushed down in torrents. When she had finished the last container, we saw to our amazement that the snakes on her head had disappeared and she had transformed into a beautiful, young woman, her true self!

We sighed with relief and thought it was all over but it was not.  A brilliant streak of lightning suddenly appeared from the sky and headed straight for Asudem.  CC saw it coming, leapt out of the bushes and pushed her away.  The lightning missed them by a hair's breadth and struck a tree instead.

"Let's go back to the temple, we will be safe there," shouted CC as the storm raged on.

The three of us jumped into the lorry and CC drove at breakneck speed back to the temple in the pouring rain. Once safely inside, CC bolted the door and told us to be quiet.  As he suspected, the evil sorceress did not dare come near the holy vicinity.  The storm suddenly abated and then all was quiet.

To cut a long story short, Asudem decided to become a nun to express her gratitude to the  Buddha for saving her and chose to join a nunnery in Thailand.

As for the evil stepmother, we heard that she had been punished and stripped of her powers by the Witches Union for her cruelty not only to her stepdaughter but to other innocent beings as well.  She would never bother Asudem again. Witches also want justice, thank God.