The village of Zong, in modern-day Tajikistan, was said to have been home to the Sa’ids. However, many of them moved away, and only two or three families stayed behind. Zong was also home to Wakhan’s largest weaving workshop, supplying fabric throughout the region.
Now, the king of the time had a beautiful daughter named Rukhshona. One day, he fell in, and told her, “After I am gone, you shall rule Wakhan.”
She was not even married at the time, still a young maiden, when her father passed away. Now, when he was alive, he had warned her, “In two, or perhaps three years, there will come a time when poverty will spread so much that people will not even be able to find some bread for themselves. You must look after the people, they are your responsibility, as is the kingdom. No one in Wakhan should die of hunger.”
He continued, “I need you to get some rings made, and have your pictures engraved on those rings. Send the ring along with other presents to neighbouring kingdoms, as well as those further away.”
She did so, and everywhere she sent her rings, as per her request, she received wheat in return. Now, one day, her Vizeir, a fine young man, asked her, “Rukhshona, you are elegant, intelligent and extraordinarily beautiful. Why do not think of marriage?”
“I intend to get married. However, I shall think about it for five years first.” She responded.
Five years passed by, and the Vizeir asked her again, “What shall you do now, Rukhshona?”
“Well, you surely are not suggesting I marry anyone! I shall test the suitors first.” She told him.
“It is a wise thing to do, Your Majesty, but how shall you go about the test?” he asked.
Rukhshona ordered two lions to be locked in a cage near the central bazaar of the village, following which she asked her servants to bring her some meat. The meat was put out for the lions, and the cage was unlocked. “I shall wed the man who is truly lion-hearted, and can wrestle the meat from the lion’s mouth.” With this declaration, Rukhshona stood aside.
Many young men tried to win her hand in marriage, for she was as beautiful as a fairy indeed. Unfortunately, the lions ripped them apart, one after another. And with that, another five years passed by. As fate would have it, a young man, a stranger, came to the bazaar and announced his intentions, claiming that he could wrestle the meat from the lion’s mouth. As fate would have it, he succeeded, and Rukhshona happily married him. Together, they had a son, who they named Lal.
Now, Rukhshona sent out rings engraved with her pictures to lands far and wide once again. They also reached one of the kings of what is now Pakistan. The king became enamoured with her as soon as he saw the ring. “She must be an angel! For how can a mortal be this beautiful? No, it is simply not possible.” He thought to himself.
His Vizeir promised to go to Zong, and see for himself, if Rukhshona was as beautiful as she appeared to be, and bring back word as soon as he could. After a long and difficult journey, the Vizeir found himself in Zong. When he saw Rukhshona, he realised, that the engraving had not deceived them! He travelled back, down the mountains, through the hills, all the way to the plains, and told his king, “She exists! She is real!”
The king gathered his forces and mobilized his army to lay siege to Wakhan. At court, he presented himself to the Queen. “Rukhshona, I wish to wed you, and make you my wife.” He declared.
“I shall not marry you.” She turned him away. “I can only marry within my own faith, or else, I could have married a thousand times.”
“If you do not concede to me willingly, consider us at war.” He said. “There is a force of twenty-five thousand men, awaiting my command.”
“If it is war you want, it is war you shall have. But you shall never have me. I will never marry outside of my faith.”
And so, with war looming over, she sent away her son, Prince Lal, with a small party of twenty-five soldiers. She knew she did not have enough men to fight by her side. Besides that, this would not be the last war…kings from what is now India, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, and even as far as Bulgaria, had seen her pictures on the rings, and she had received word, that all of them had lost their hearts to that one picture.
One day, the king of Pakistan went out hunting. As he sat down on a rock, to catch his breath, his Vizeir brought rather ill news to him. “Rukhshona did not want her people to suffer in a war she could not win. She took her sword, and ended her life.”
The king climbed all the way to the peak, and let out a cold sigh. “If someone like Rukhshona can depart from this world, then what of me? Thousands like me die every day.” And with that, he threw himself off the mountain.
Notes: in another variation of the tale, Rukhshona leads her forces into battle. It is after she sees that the chances of victory are slim, that she declares “I shall never yield to another – it is better that I perish.” and ends her life in the midst of battle. When word reaches the king, he too, kills himself, (with the same declaration as this version) with his sword.
The folktale also mentions the details of Lal’s escape. As he and his party navigated through a narrow mountain trail, Lal's steed stumbled over a stone slightly protruding out of the earth. When he glanced down, he unearthed a beautiful, blood-red, red stone. From that day onwards, the mountain has been known as “Koh-i-Lal” – and its ruby mines are famed even today.
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