A Flowering Tree

There once lived two very poor sisters cared for only by their diligent mother.

They eked a bare existence until the older Kumudhan discovered a secret talent.

By partaking in a beautiful but private ritual, she could transform herself into a flowering tree.

Carefully her sister poured water over Kumudhan's head and gently harvested the beautiful flowers,

with a final pour of water over the tree-girl, she became whole again.

Secretly, the sisters sold their flowers to the public at the court of the king to great acclaim.

Attracting the attention of the prince, he stealthily followed the sisters to their home,

where he spied their private ritual.

The prince coveted the transmogrifer

and supplicated his father for the companion.

The king ordered the mother to her audience and requested Kumudhan's hand.

Incensed, the aging worker rushed home to accuse her daughters of harlotry.

She beat them savagely with brooms until they confessed their scheme to save the family from destitution.

The family made amends and ate a finer meal than they ever had.

The prince married the daughter and they made their way to the newlywed parlor.

There, silently, they lay for three nights with no physical intimacy.

Then the prince ordered Kumudhan to perform her transformation.

Ashamed and demoralized, she performed her private ritual to her new husband. 


She rained a fountain of flowers upon them when they finally consummated their betrothal.


The prince's jealous and evil sister peered upon her sister in law's magic sub rosa.

She fancied a plan to call Kumudhan to the royal orchard the next day when the prince was away.

There the evil princess and her sycophants beseeched the naive one to metamorphose again.

Kumudhan asked them to gently deflower her and restore her with a second pitcher of water.

Flip and unpitying, they stripped the flowers, broke her branches, and ran away laughing.

Deeply hurt, Kumudhan lay and armless and legless stump, motionless and maimed.

A band of beggars carried her away with them.

The prince arrived back to his castle to find no wife.

Searching for weeks, he gradually weakened until he left the castle for the life of an ascetic.

His evil princess sister married a King of a neighorboring town and became powerful.

Kumudhan's voice was eventually recognized and brought to the court of the new queen.


The grizzled prince came upon the court of his sister, where he too was recognized.

The wedding pair were bathed, reclothed, and reunited,


when the prince performed the restoration ritual on his Kumudhan.

She was restored to her humanity.

The evil queen's treacherous plan was revealed to her king and he had her thrown into a bottomless pit.

From A Flowering Tree, by John Adams, staged by Peter Sellars adapted from a Southern Indian Kannadan folktale by A.K. Ramanujan Chicago Opera Theater, May 17