["The neighbours dashed into their house and found the dead messenger. They informed the guards who captured the husband and produced him before the king. Murderer in that kingdom was punishable by death penalty. When they were dragging him to the gallows, a thief approached the king and bowed. \u201cI am a humble thief, your majesty. On the night of the murder, I was hiding inside the house waiting for an opportunity to steal things. I saw that not this man, but his wife mixed poison in fruit juice and gave it to the messenger who died because of it. I beg you to please release this man as he is innocent.\u201d The king released the husband and put Chanchala to death instead. Betaal paused. \u201cTell me, who do you think was responsible for the misfortune?\u201d Vikramaditya answered, \u201cChanchala\u2019s father, the merchant was the only one responsible for the misfortune. Had he told Chanchala\u2019s husband of his daughter\u2019s bad habit, he would have been more cautious and would have never left his wife alone.\u201d Betaal was smiling. The king had been right. He said, \u201cHere I go again!\u201d and he flew back to the Peepal tree.","The Brahmin and The Sage O nce upon a time a very pious Brahmin lived in the city of Udaypur. He and his wife made an honest living. They had enough to live by comfortably. But they often wished they had a child. So they spent their days praying to Almighty. One day, his wife gave birth to a baby boy. Their happiness knew no bounds. They held a feast for the poor and thanked the Almighty for his blessings. The old Brahmin and his wife worked to provide their son with the best education. They also taught him the lessons of love, and kindness. Therefore, the boy grew up to be a fine young man. Everyone in the city talked about the boy\u2019s knowledge and wisdom. When he was of age, the Brahmin and his wife began to look for a bride to get him married. But one day their son fell sick. The Brahmin and his wife consulted the best doctors and prayed to the Almighty. But it was all in vain. After lying on his bed for a month, the boy died. His dead body was carried to funeral. The Brahmin and his wife grieved.","Hearing their loud cries, a sage who was meditating under a tree nearby approached them. He saw the dead young man lying on the ground while his parents were crying over him. The sage had an idea. \u201cI can easily leave my old body and enter this young man\u2019s body,\u201d he thought. The sage went","back to where he sat, wept for some time, then laughed for some time and finally closed his eyes in concentration. Just then the young man opened his eyes. The Brahmin and his wife were surprised. They held their son to their chest and wept in happiness. Betaal asked the king, \u201cCan you tell me why the sage had first wept and then laughed?\u201d King Vikramaditya said, \u201cThe sage first wept because he was leaving his old body. He then laughed because he was going to enter a strong young body leaving his weak old body behind.\u201d Betaal told the king that he was right again and flew back to the tree.","Story of Two Fathers L ong ago a Brahmin lived in Avantipur. The Brahmin\u2019s wife had died at childbirth and she had left him a beautiful daughter. The Brahmin loved his daughter very much. He worked day and night and tried his best to make his daughter happy. Bishakha, the Brahmin\u2019s daughter, grew up to be a very beautiful and intelligent woman. She also loved her father very much. One day, when Bishakha was sleeping, a man quietly climbed into her room through the open window and hid behind the curtains. She asked, \u201cWho are you?\u201d The man replied, \u201cI am a thief. The king\u2019s guards are after me. Please help me.\u201d When the king\u2019s guards knocked on her door, Bishakha told them that she did not know anything. The thief who was hiding in her room was saved. He thanked her and quietly left, through the way he had come. They often saw each other at the market. They had begun to fall in love. So one day they decided to get married. Bishakha was scared that her father would be very angry because she wanted to marry a thief. So she decided to get married the thief secretly. They were happy, until one day the thief was caught by the king\u2019s guards and sentenced to death for robbing a rich man\u2019s house. Bishakha was shattered for she was carrying his child in her womb. When the thief died Bishaka\u2019s father got her married to another man and in a few months the baby boy was born.","This man accepted the boy as his own. Bishakha died when the boy was only five. The man took up the role of a responsible father and the boy grew up to be kind and intelligent. They had loved each other a lot but then one day the man died too.","As he grieved for his father, the boy decided to pray for both his parents\u2019 souls. As he was about to offer his prayers, three hands came out of the river water. One hand was wearing bangles. It said, \u201cSon, I am your mother.\u201d The young man offered his prayers to his mother. But he was confused about the other two hands. One of them said, \u201cSon, I am your father who has given birth to you.\u201d The third hand was silent. When the young man asked, it said, \u201cSon, I am your father too, the one who has brought you up with love and care.\u201d Betaal asked, \u201cGreat king, tell me now, who out of the two fathers should the son offer his prayers to?\u201d Vikramaditya said, \u201cHe was the father who had brought him up. He had fulfilled the duties of a father. If he had not cared for the child when his mother died the child would have died too. Only he has the right to be called the young man\u2019s father.\u201d Betaal said, \u201cyou are right again\u201d and flew back to the tree.","Dreams Come True V ikramaditya dragged Betaal down from the tree again. As they set off for their journey, Betaal began his story. Once upon a time a rich merchant called Satyapaul lived in Patliputra. Satyapaul had a distant relative who was orphaned at a very young age. This young boy was called Chandranath. Though Chandranath lived in Satyapaul\u2019s house, he was treated as a servant. Day after day he dreamt of becoming a rich man like Satyapaul. One afternoon, while he was taking a little nap, he dreamt that he had become a very rich merchant and that Satyapaul now worked as his servant. He began to talk in his sleep. \u201cHey Satyapaul, you dirty fool. Come here and take my shoes off!\u201d Just then Satyapaul was crossing by his room. He heard Chandranath\u2019s mumblings and was furious. Angry, Satyapaul threw a shoe at Chandranath and chased him away from his home. Poor Chandranath had nowhere to go. He was upset at the humiliation and began to plot revenge. Finally, hungry and tired he reached the forest. A hermit lived in the forest. Chandranath approached him and touched his feet. The hermit asked, \u201cWhy are you so miserable, son?\u201d Chandranath told him everything. The hermit took pity on him. He said, \u201cI will teach you a mantra. If you chant this mantra after you have seen a dream, your dream will come true.\u201d As Chandranath was about to leave, the hermit warned, \u201cHowever, you would be able to use the mantra only three times.\u201dUpon returning to the city, he found a small hut and lay down at its steps. Sleep came over him soon and he began to dream. Chandranath dreamt that Satyapaul was apologizing to him and that he offered Chandranath to marry his daughter Satyabati. Chandranath woke up. He thought, \u201dI really like what I saw in my dream. Perhaps it is time that I checked whether the mantra works.\u201d He began to chant the mantra.","Satyapaul had been looking for Chandranath. He saw Chandranath sitting on the footsteps of the hut. Satyapaul apologized to Chandranath for chasing him away and treating him like a servant. He then offered his daughter as a bride to Chandranath. Chandranath could not believe his ears. The mantra had worked. Chandranath accepted the proposal and married Satyabati. Satyapaul offered to set up a business for Chandranath so that they may live comfortably and be happy. One day Chandranath dreamt that his business had flourished and that he was now the richest merchant in the city. When he woke up, he decided to chant the mantra. Soon his business flourished and he made a lot of money. He became the richest merchant in the city exactly as he had dreamt.","The other merchants in the city were jealous of him. They began to talk about Chandranath\u2019s business and how he evaded his taxes in order to be rich. These talks soon became rumours and reached the king\u2019s ears. The king got his guards to investigate and found the rumours were true. As a","punishment, Chandranath was ordered to pay ten times the amount of the tax he had evaded. That night he dreamt that he had become the king of Patliputra and that he was punishing all the merchants who had spread the rumours about him. He woke up in the morning and just as he was about to chant the mantra for the last time he realized something. Chandranath wept. He did not chant the mantra. He went straight to the hermit in the forest and asked him to take away the powers. The hermit smiled as he heard this. Betaal asked, \u201cWhy did Chandranath not chant the mantra and become the king of Patliputra?\u201d Vikramaditya answered, \u201cChandranath had realized that without hard work, fame and success means nothing. It is no fun in living a life where all your dreams easily come true. Through the powers of the mantras, the hermit had taught him this valuable lesson.\u201d Betaal laughed and said, \u201cYou are incredible. I am so sorry I will have to leave again.\u201d And he flew back to the tree.","The Most Deserving W hen King Vikramaditya went to fetch Betaal again, the ghost was amused. \u201cDear king, you must be bored of dragging me down again and again,\u201d he said. The king remained silent. The ghost continued, \u201cAll right, I shall tell you another story. It will keep the boredom away.\u201d And Betaal began to tell another story. Once upon a time, a very pious Brahmin lived in the kingdom of Kanuj. He had a young daughter named Vidruma. People said that her face was like the moon and her color was like molten gold. Vidruma was very beautiful. In that same city, there were three very learned young Brahmins. All three of them loved her very much. They had even approached her father on several occasions to seek her as their wife. But the Brahmin had refused all of them. One day Vidruma fell very sick. The old Brahmin tried everything to save her but alas! She died due to her illness. The three young Brahmins were very disappointed by her death. They wept for days and finally decided to dedicate their lives to her memory. The first young Brahmin built a hut near the cemetery and made a bed out of her ashes. He then began to spend his days begging for food and sleeping on the bed. The second Brahmin collected Vidruma\u2019s bones and dipped them in the holy waters of the Ganges. He then began spending his life living by the side of the river, under the stars. The third young Brahmin decided to live the life of a monk. He wandered from village to village, begging for food and shelter. One day when he was visiting a village, a simple trader invited him to spend the night in his house. When they sat down for dinner, the trader\u2019s little boy began to cry very loudly. No matter how much his mother tried to calm him, he kept on","crying. Finally the woman was irritated. She picked up her son and threw him into the stove. The boy quickly burnt to ashes. The young Brahmin was horrified by the whole event. Trembling with anger he got up from where he sat before his plate of food and said, \u201cYou people are so cruel to kill an innocent child. I will not eat in this house for it shall be a sin.\u201d His host begged him to stay. \u201cPlease forgive us O great monk. I pray you to stay so that you may see no cruelty has taken place. I can bring my son back to life. He is perfectly safe.\u201d The man then fetched a tiny book of prayers and chanted some mantras. The beautiful boy rose from the ashes, alive and hearty. The Brahmin was amazed. He could not believe his eyes. Suddenly he had an idea. When his host went to bed, the Brahmin quietly took the book of prayers and left the village to come home.","He was planning to bring Vidruma back to life. But for that he would need her ashes and her bones. He went to the cemetery where the other two Brahmins were living. \u201cBrothers,\u201d he said, \u201cI have found a way of bringing the beautiful Vidruma back to life. But I would need her bones and her","ashes.\u201d The two Brahmins were overjoyed to hear this. They brought her ashes and her bones and placed it before the third Brahmin. The third Brahmin then began to chant the mantra and soon Vidruma rose from her ashes. She looked more beautiful than she used to. The three Brahmins were very happy. But they began to fight amongst themselves as to who should marry her. Betaal stopped and asked the king, \u201cTell me king, who do you think deserved the most to be her husband?\u201d King Vikramaditya said, \u201cThe first Brahmin.\u201d Betaal was smiling. \u201cThe third Brahmin brought the mantra to bring her back to life. He did the duty that a father should do. The second Brahmin kept her bones. He did what a son would do. But the first Brahmin slept with her ashes. It is what a lover would do. Thus he deserved the most to marry her.\u201d Betaal said, \u201cYou are right.\u201d And he flew back to the Peepal tree.","The Brahmin and The Hawk L ong ago in the city of Benares there lived a very pious Brahmin called Dharmaswami. He had a son called Hariswami. Hariswami loved his wife very much. And why wouldn\u2019t he? Sundari was very beautiful. The creator had made her with all the charms and beauty he could find. One day in a moonlight night Hariswami was sleeping beside his wife in his garden when a fairy-prince flew past them. He was at once smitten by Sundari\u2019s beauty. He thought, \u201cSuch a beauty ought to live with me in my world.\u201d So he carried the sleeping woman in his arms and left the garden. When Hariswami woke up he was worried not to find his wife beside him. He kept waiting for her to return but it was in vain. Days passed and Hariswami grew miserable at having lost his beautiful wife. He sold his property and his house. Held a huge feast for the poor in the city with the money he had and left to wander in his sorrow. One day, while he was passing through a village, he saw that a very generous Brahmin and his wife were holding a feast for the poor in the village. Hariswami went to their house and sat at the door looking miserable.","The Brahmin\u2019s wife saw him and she thought, \u201cThis man must be very hungry. He looks really sad. I should offer him some food to cheer him up.\u201d So the kind woman brought a bowl full of cooked rice and butter with a lump of sugar and offered it to Hariswami. Hariswami was hungry and","when he saw the food he thanked the woman and blessed her for her kindness. He then went to a corner with the bowl of rice and settled comfortably in the sun. It was spring and the weather was pleasant. A hawk flew over Hariswami with a dead snake in its beak. The snake had died as the hawk had clasped its neck and now poison dripped from its open mouth. Hariswami had not noticed it but some of the poison had fallen into his bowl of rice. So when he ate the rice, his body, eyes, were turned blue and he died all of a sudden. \u201dNow tell me King, who was responsible for the death of the poor Brahmin? Was it the Hawk, the snake or the Brahmin\u2019s wife who had offered the bowl of rice?\u201d King Vikramaditya smiled. \u201cThe Brahmin\u2019s wife had done her duty by offering food to the weary traveller. The snake could not have helped it as it was already dead. The Hawk was only interested in eating the snake. It was not its fault either. If anybody is to be blamed for Hariswami\u2019s death, it should be Hariswami himself. He should have been alert enough to notice the poison when it dropped into his food.\u201d When Vikramaditya had finished his answer, Betaal started flying towards the tree. Betaal knew the king was too wise to give a wrong answer.","Arrogant Scholar B etaal began his story once more when Vikramaditya brought him down from the tree and began his journey. His determination to take Betaal to the tantric was growing each time he climbed the Peepal tree. Betaal was waiting for the king to give up but that was not going to happen for a very long time. The next story Betaal told Vikramaditya about a farmer\u2019s boy who grew to be a great poet. Shricharan was born to a poor farmer in a village called Rampur. No matter how much his father tried to make him learn the art of growing grains in his fields, Shricharan\u2019s interests clung to philosophy and poetry. The local schoolmaster was impressed by Shricharan and he took up the responsibility to educate the boy. Shricharan was very intelligent. He mastered in three years what students usually took ten years to learn. This impressed his master. He suggested that such a brilliant student must go to the city for further studies. But because Shricharan\u2019s father could not afford to send his son to the city for further studies, Shricharan remained in the village and continued to write poems and songs.","One day a very famous poet was passing by the village. The schoolmaster taking advantage of the opportunity introduced his favourite student to the poet. Shricharan\u2019s poems were praised and the poet suggested that since Shricharan was extraordinarily talented he should go to the great scholar","Pandit Mahananda and learn the art of poetry. There was a huge chance that the Pandit might introduce him to the king\u2019s court. Shricharan was excited to know this. He found out that a very rich landlord in his village called Kishanchand was a distant relative of Pandit Mahananda. He went to Kishanchand to request him for a letter of introduction. Kishanchand was a kind man and he had known about Shricharan\u2019s talent. However, he said, \u201cI am sorry dear boy, Pandit Mahananda is a man of principles. If you went to him with a recommendation, he would turn you away without even looking at your face. Therefore, I would suggest, instead of my letter, take with you some of your best works and try to impress him. If he likes them, he will surely take you as his student.\u201d Shricharan understood that impressing Pandit Mahananda is no piece of cake. He went back home and sat down to compose something that would charm the scholar. After tirelessly working for a month he was finally able to write a poem on Lord Krishna. He called it Shreekrishna Leelamrita. Then on an auspicious day, he set off towards where Pandit Mahananda lived. When he reached the scholar\u2019s house, he saw the scholar was sitting on the steps of his house with a piece of paper. A student sat at his feet listening intently. Shricharan decided to listen to their conversation. Pandit Mahananda was criticizing the composition and he was being very cruel. He said that there were grammatical errors, the meter was wrong and the imagery did not make sense. The student looked like he was about to cry. It seemed like he was an upcoming poet. Shricharan could not hold himself back any longer. He bowed to the great man and said, \u201cEven if a lotus grows in the mud, we must admire its beauty first.\u201d What Shricharan meant was that a critic must first admire the poem for its beauty before criticizing it for its mistakes. Pandit Mahananda was furious. \u201cHow dare you interrupt me? Who do you think you are to talk to me like this? Do you think you know more than I do?\u201d Shricharan politely told him that he had come to seek his guidance. He wished to be Pandit Mahananda\u2019s student. The scholar was angry. He","refused to fulfill Shricharan, s wish. Poor Shricharan was forced to return with a heavy heart. When he arrived at his own village, he went straight to Kishanchand and handed him the manuscript of Shreekrishna Leelamritas. \u201cI do not want it anymore. The Pandit has turned me away,\u201d he said sadly. Kishanchand tried his best to lift the boy\u2019s spirits but it was in vain. After a few days Kishanchand received a letter from Pandit Mahananda asking about a boy who had come to him with a script called Shreekrishna Leelamritas. When Kishanchand sent him Shricharan\u2019s manuscript, Pandit Mahananda wrote to Shricharan, saying he would gladly accept Shricharan as his student. Shricharan was overjoyed. In years that followed, he became a famous poet and was introduced to the king\u2019s court by his guru. Betaal asked Vikramaditya, \u201cWhy did Pandit Mahananda who was so arrogant at first, decide to take Shricharan as his disciple?\u201d The king said, \u201cPandit Mahananda was a great scholar. He knew that only by pointing out the mistakes in a student\u2019s composition he would be able to improve the student. He was scolding the student that day for the student\u2019s own good. Shricharan\u2019s poem was beautiful and being a great scholar Pandit Mahananda could not overlook the boy\u2019s talents. He knew Shricharan deserved to be taught by him and later on to be recognized by the king himself.\u201d Betaal admired King Vikramaditya\u2019s wisdom. He told the king that his answer was right and flew back to the tree.","Vikramaditya\u2019s Throne A fter many such attempts, it was Betaal who was forced to give up and go to the tantric with Vikramaditya. The story of King Vikramaditya and Betaal went down in history as one of the greatest examples of patience, determination and wisdom. Many years later, a king called Bhoja, who ruled over the great city of Ujjaini was told about this great King. However, it was interesting, how he found out about king Vikramaditya. Many years after king Vikramaditya\u2019s rule, the great king Bhoja, who ruled the city of Ujjaini went hunting in the forests around his city with some of his men. The wild animals from the forests were disturbing the peace of some villages nearby. So the king decided to kill the animals and restore the peace. They had spent all day in the forest chasing the animals. When it was mid day and the sun began to shine mightily above them, they decided to rest for a while. They began looking for a spot to rest. After searching for a long time, they came across a large field. The corn that grew in that field looked delicious. The king was impressed. He began to look for the owner. They spotted him sitting at the centre of the field, on a mound of earth. When they approached him, he stood up and bowed. \u201cI am honoured that you have graced my fields with your presence, your majesty. I am Saravana Bhatta and I own these fields. Please feel free to rest and feast on the corn.\u201d The king and his men were delighted. They set up camp in the field and began to feast on the sweet, juicy corn. When Sravana Bhatta got down from the mound and saw that the king and his men were feasting on his crops he grew furious. He went to the king and said, \u201cYour majesty, I am a poor man. This corn is my livelihood. If you and your men eat my crop how will I feed my family?\u201d The king offered","Sravana Bhatta some money in return for his favour. The farmer thanked the king and went back to his mound. Strangely when the farmer sat on the mound again, he said, \u201cYour majesty, you rule over these lands. These are your fields more than mine and these are your crops. I am disappointed that you should pay me for what belongs to you. I refuse to take this money.\u201d And he returned the money to the king. The king was now confused. He realized, there was something wrong with the mound. He offered to buy the field from Saravana Bhatta. After having paid a huge price, he ordered the mound to be dug. To everyone\u2019s astonishment, the men discovered a large golden throne buried in the mound.","It was a beautiful peacock throne. It was made of solid gold and was studded with precious stones and thirty-two strange looking dolls. The king fell in love with the throne at once. He wished it to be carried back to the palace.","But they could not move the throne. The king ordered for more men. But the throne seemed to be magical. It got heavier and heavier making it impossible to be moved. Then one wise advisor suggested, \u201cYour majesty, this throne seemed to have belonged to a great king. We must worship the throne before trying to move it.\u201d The king agreed and a team of Brahmins were called who performed a ritual around the throne. It helped and the throne finally moved. They brought the throne to the palace and on an auspicious day, the king having finished his morning duties decided to sit on the throne. However, no sooner had he stepped on the pedestal, one of the dolls started laughing very loudly. \u201cWait O king, do you think you have got what it takes to sit on this throne?\u201d The king was taken by surprise. He said, \u201cPardon me, I do not understand.\u201d \u201cThis throne had belonged to the great king Vikramaditya. It takes only greatness like his to sit on this throne. Do you think your wisdom and justice matches that of great king Vikramaditya?\u201d \u201dTell me. How great was King Vikramaditya? I want to know more about him,\u201d Bhoja demanded. The doll laughed, \u201cI will tell you a story and you shall judge for yourself, how great king Vikramaditya was.\u201d And the doll began to tell a story about King Vikramaditya\u2019s greatness. King Bhoja sat wide-eyed as he heard the story. He realized, his wisdom and justice were no match for Vikramaditya. King Vikramaditya was indeed a great king.","",""]
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