yellow-green fairy tale book

Chapter 16 The Prime Minister's Thanks

Once upon a time, there were two neighboring countries in the Hindustan region. One of their kings was called Raja and the other was called Badshah.As they compete with each other in wealth and force, they are not friendly.To avoid constant quarrels, King Raja and King Badshah came to an agreement, stamped and signed it.The agreement stipulates that subjects of the two countries, regardless of their status, will be arrested and punished as long as they cross the border.

One morning, King Badshah and his vizier were about to go about their affairs of state. He took a pencil and a sharp knife to sharpen the tip to his liking, but the knife slipped and his A small section of the finger was chopped off.

"Alas, Prime Minister!" cried the King, "I have cut off one of my fingers."

"That's good news!" replied the chancellor.

"Bold!" exclaimed the king, "are you fond of taking pleasure in the sufferings of others, and mine too? Come, man, take him away, and put him in prison, and come again when I am free." Think about how to punish him."

The guards immediately seized the unfortunate chancellor, and dragged him away from the king's presence, toward a narrow gate.The unlucky criminals were dragged out through this door and put in prison or put to death.

The door opened, and the prime minister was dragged out, mumbling something to himself with his white bearded mouth, but the soldiers didn't hear clearly.

"What did this impudent fellow say?" growled the angry king. "He said he thanked His Majesty."

One of the jailers answered.At his words, the king stared at the closed door, both angry and surprised.

"He must be mad," cried the King. "He takes pleasure in every misfortune, even mine. There must be something wrong with his head."

The king always liked his prime minister very much, although at this time the imperial physician had come to bandage his wound and applied painkillers.Although the pain of the wound can be relieved, the pain of the heart cannot be healed.None of the ministers could give him the slightest comfort, and he has been losing his temper all day.

Early the next morning, the king ordered his horse to be prepared, saying that he was going hunting.All the people were busy in the stable at once, and when he was ready, a dozen ministers and hunters were all ready to go with him.But, to their surprise, the king would not allow any of them to accompany them.Seeing him staring at them so fiercely, they were happy to let him go alone.So the king set off alone.As he walked farther and farther, over the fields and through the woods, he was so sad and preoccupied that many a fat stag and a fine pheasant slipped from his sight.Moreover, because of his absent-mindedness, he did not realize that he had strayed into the territory of King Raja.He didn't wake up until many people rushed out of the bushes and surrounded him.He had no choice but to surrender.Poor King Badshah was captured, bound and sent to Raja's prison.In prison, he spent most of his time thinking about his prime minister. The two had the same fate. He really hoped that he, like the prime minister, had something to be grateful for.

That night, King Raja convened a special meeting to discuss how to deal with this old enemy who had sent him to the door.All the Brahmins were called--all fat monks, learned and well-informed, knowing which day was auspicious and which day was bad--and the king's counselors gave him many advices, The king was driven almost insane.He lost his temper and didn't know what to do.The leader of the Brahmin crouched in a corner and calculated, and the monks around him looked at him with admiration.At last he stood up and walked towards the king.

"Well?" the king asked anxiously, "what do you think?"

"A very unlucky day," said the Brahmin leader, "oh, a very unlucky day.

Goddess Devi is angry and she orders you to chop off the head of King Badshah tomorrow and make an offering to her. "

"Ah, good," said King Raja, "then it will be done like this, and you will carry out the execution." He bowed to the monks and left.

Before dawn, a lot of preparations for the sacrifice ceremony have already been done.Hundreds of flags are fluttering, hundreds of drums are beating, hundreds of people are singing hymns, and hundreds of monks are busy with the sacrifice ceremony after bathing and anointing.King Raja sat restlessly waiting, surrounded by many ministers and retinue, wishing all the best.At last, when the time for worshiping the gods came, poor Badshah was brought up bound, and his head was to be cut off.

The leading monk came up with a smile on his face, holding a shining big knife in his hand.Suddenly, he noticed that Badshah's fingers were wrapped with a cloth, and immediately threw away the knife in his hand, untied the cloth from Badshah's fingers, and his eyes almost fell out.The cloth was untied, and he saw that one of the sacrifice's little fingers was missing.Flushed and very angry, he brought Badshah to King Raja who was sitting there feeling bewildered.

"Look, King Raja!" he said, "this sacrifice is useless! His finger is missing! The thing used to worship the god must be intact!" As he said, he was so ashamed and annoyed that he even burst into tears .

But King Raja, instead of crying like the others, was relieved, and he replied:
"Well, problem solved. I wouldn't care if it was someone else. But—a king—seems inappropriate to sacrifice a king." With that, he stood up, and with his diamond-encrusted The dagger cut the ropes that bound King Badshah, and walked out of the temple with him and returned to the palace.

After letting the guests bathe and rest, King Raja brought many gifts and personally led a large group of people to escort King Badshah to the border between the two countries.Amid cheers, they tore up the old agreement and made a new one.The new agreement stipulates that subjects of both countries, regardless of their status, should be welcomed and guaranteed safety when entering each other's country for whatever reason.After embracing each other, they each returned to their own countries.

That night, when King Badshah returned home, he immediately had the prime minister brought out of the prison.

"Ah, prime minister!" When the old prime minister was brought before him, he said, "Think about what happened to me?"

"How do people in prison know what's going on outside?" the prime minister replied.

So Badshah told the prime minister about his experience.After saying this, he added:

"I decided that to celebrate my narrow escape, as long as you tell me why you congratulated me when I cut off my finger, then I will forgive you and let you out."

"Your Majesty," replied the old chancellor, "don't you think that is a very lucky thing? Otherwise your head will be cut off. The two unfortunate things of cutting off a small finger and being beheaded Compared with other things, the matter of losing a small finger is of course much lighter."

"That's right," said the king, stroking his head, as if to make sure that his head was still there. "However, why do you thank me for putting you in prison?"

"I express my gratitude," said the Vizier, "because it is always a good thing to be grateful. If I had known that I was imprisoned for this, Goddess Devi would not have taken me as a complete sacrifice to replace you. , I still don’t know how to express my thanks!”

(End of this chapter)