Photo: Pulau Dayang Bunting

Nestled in the midst of lushly forested hills on this island south of Pulau Langkawi is Tasik Dayang Bunting (Lake of the Pregnant Maiden), the largest lake in all the islands of Langkawi. The outline of hills and rocky outcrops on one side of the lake takes the shape of a pregnant maiden lying on her back. But the name of both the island and the lake is attributed to a legend of a lovely fairy princess who married an earthly prince. Her first child died shortly after birth. So sad and depressed was she that she buried the child in the crystal clear waters of the lake. Before she returned to her fairy adobe, she blessed the waters so that henceforth any childless maiden who bathed in the lake would conceive thereafter.