Sanskrit literature -- Translations into English; Tales -- India
13. What kind of man do you think the king was from his behaviour to
Hari-Sarman?
14. Was it wise or foolish of Hari-Sarman to remain in the city after
his very narrow escape?
CHAPTER VIII
Hari-Sarman thought when he looked at the pitcher: “Alas, alas, it is
all over with me now! Never can I find out what is in it. Would that I
had left this town with the money I had from Jihva before it was too
late!” Then he began to mutter to himself, as it was always his habit
to do when he was in trouble. It so happened that, when he was a little
boy, his father used to call him frog, and now his thoughts went back
to the time when he was a happy innocent child, and he said aloud: “Oh,
frog, what trouble has come to you! That pitcher will be the death of
you!”
Even Deva-Jnanin was astonished when he heard that; and so were all the
other wise men. The king was delighted to find that after all he had
made no mistake; and all the people who had been allowed to come in to
see the trial were greatly excited. Shouting for joy the king called
Hari-Sarman to come to the foot of the throne, and told him he would
never, never doubt him again. He should have yet more money, a
beautiful house in the country as well as the one he already had in the
town, and his children should be brought from the farm to live with him
and their mother, who should have lovely dresses and ornaments to wear.
Nobody was more surprised than Hari-Sarman himself. He guessed, of
course, that there was a frog in the pitcher. And when the king had
ended his speech, he said: “One thing I ask in addition to all that has
been given me, that I may keep the pitcher in memory of this day, when
my truth has been proved once more beyond a doubt.”
His request was, of course, granted; and he went off with the pitcher
under his arm, full of rejoicing over his narrow escape. At the same
time he was also full of fear for the future. He knew only too well
that it had only been by a lucky chance that he had used the word Jihva
in his first danger and Frog in the second. He was not likely to get
off a third time; and he made up his mind that he would skip away some
dark night soon, with all the money and jewels he could carry, and be
seen no more where such strange adventures had befallen him. He did not
even tell his wife what he meant to do, but pretended to have forgiven
her entirely for the way she had neglected him when he was poor, and to
be glad that their children were to be restored to them. Before they
came from the farm their father had disappeared, and nobody ever found
out what had become of him; but the king let his family keep what had
been given to him, and to the end believed he really had been what he
had pretended to be. Only Deva-Jnanin had his doubts; but he kept them
to himself, for he thought, “Now the man is gone, it really does not
matter who or what he was.”
15. What is the chief lesson to be learnt from this story?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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