A queen’s dream

As told by Kosar Begum, 55 years old, a Rohingya women

Kutupalong Refugee Camp, Cox’s Bazaar, Bangladesh

***

In ancient times, there was a country that had been badly affected by drought. One day, the queen of the country had a vivid dream in which she saw torrential rains falling throughout the land. 

In her dream, an elderly person came to her, whispering in her ear. 

“My Queen,” the old person said. “Soon these rains will fall throughout the country. Please tell all of the people in the land not to drink the rain water. If someone drinks even a drop, he or she will go perpetually mad.” 

Suddenly she awoke, deep with worry about how she would be able to prevent her people from drinking the water and endangering themselves. 

In the morning, the Queen launched a campaign to inform everyone not to drink the rain water that would soon fall. Her advisors hosted meetings with the people, asking them to use the rain to fulfill only their basic needs for agricultural and household work, but not to drink. Others passed the word along to their families and friends. But in the end, no one other than Queen and the Queen’s own family believed her.

“How could rainwater make people go insane? How can we believe your dream?” they asked. The Queen did not have an answer.

The following night, just like she had predicted, the sky split open and the rains began pouring on the country. Thunder and lightening streaked across the sky. 

Having not seen rain for many months, the people gathered in the streets, celebrating and drinking the water. They laughed and said, “See, the water is fine! We are not mad. What was the Queen thinking?”

But over the next few days, slowly everyone in the country went mad. At first, small groups of people gathered and began babbling and talking nonsense. Before long, everyone in the country was dancing in the streets, taking off their shirts and singing bizarre songs. Only the Queen’s family, who had not drunk the rainwater did not go mad. 

It was chaos. The drought had made the situation in the country very dire, but suddenly the rain had made it even worse. Everyday groups of mad people who dance through the streets to her palace. When they saw the Queen they would treat her very rudely,, not at all with the respect that one should give to a queen. 

Finally, the Queen realized that there were no more good people in her country, that the situation was hopeless. The Queen and her family decided to join the rest of the country by drinking the rain water. Before long they too were dancing through the street, having been driven perpetually mad. 

If the wrong doers in the country are the majority, they can force the country into a very bad situation.

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