De Indische waterlelies

Once upon a time... The Indian Water Lilies - the Efteling Story

Far away in India, in a rainforest where no human has ever set foot,
is a small, peaceful lake.
Seven water lilies float on the surface of the lake.

The forest was home to a witch who was so ugly,
she only dared emerge from her hiding place by night.
Then she would sing with an enchantingly beautiful voice.
Whenever there was a full moon,
the moon fairy and her star children would come down to the lake.
They would dance all night in the moonlight,
until it was morning.
But no longer, because if they didn’t stop before daylight,
they could never return to the night sky.

The witch had been trying to enchant the moon fairy
and her star children for years,
but she had never succeeded.
Until one day seven of the star children were naughty.
“Come, star children, it’s nearly morning, come, come,” said the moon fairy.
But the children didn’t listen.
They danced and danced until the witch had them in her power.
Poor little star children!
They could still dance after midnight but, during the daytime,
the witch turned them into seven water lilies.
They gazed longingly upwards at the blue sky,
which looked back at the seven unhappy star children.
Would the moon fairy ever be able to break the witch’s spell?

History:

• In 1962 Peter Reijnders traveled to the royal castle of Laeken in Laken for an audience with the queen in order to obtain permission to build it
• This agreed on the condition that a contribution should be made to charity
• The royal couple were present at the opening in 1966 and were overwhelmed by the implementation and the technology