2-4 Story
of the Fisherman:
The
Vazeer Who Was Punished
The
Vazeer said - "Once upon a time, there was a King whose son was very
fond of hunting. He often went for hunting, but the King had ordered his
Vazeer to accompany him all the time. Once the huntsman roused a stag, and
thinking that Vazeer was behind him, the Prince started chasing him. He
came so far that he found himself alone. He stopped, looked around but
didn't see the Vazeer. He had lost the way. While he was trying to find
his way, he saw a beautiful woman crying bitterly, he stopped near her and
asked her who she was, what she was doing there alone and if she needed
help. She told him that she was the daughter of an Indian King. While she
was riding, she fell asleep and fell down from the horse. He had run away
and now she did not know what to do.
He
asked her to sit behind him and as they were passing by a ruin, the woman
dismounted and went in that building. The Prince also dismounted his horse
and followed her. To his utmost surprise, he heard her saying to somebody,
"Rejoice my children, I have brought you a fat youth." The
children asked - "Where is he, we want to eat him soon, we are
hungry." As soon as the Prince heard this, he understood that he was
in danger. That woman was not the daughter of any Indian King, but was an
ogress, who had now brought him for her children to eat. He immediately
rode back on his horse. At the same time that woman reappeared before him
and said to him - "Don't be afraid, what do you want?" The
Prince said - "I have lost my way and I am looking for the
road." She said - "Go straight, you will find the road."
The Prince was surprised to see the woman behaving like this.
Again
to his surprise, he found his way, he came back home and told his father
what had happened to him because of his Vazeer's carelessness. The King
was very angry with his Vazeer and ordered to kill him by
strangling." The Vazeer was thus killed.
To
Return to the "Physician's" story......
The
Vazeer said to the King - "In the same way if you will not care of
the physician now you will repent. Who knows that this remedy might affect
you adversely in future."
The
King could not maintain his first decision, he agreed with the Vazeer and
said to him - "Perhaps you are right. I will see what I can do."
"The best thing is that send him in and as soon as he comes, cut his
head immediately." The King sent him in and the physician came there
immediately. The King said to him - "I have had sent you in to cut
your head to free myself." The physician got astonished to hear that
he had to die. He asked - "Your Majesty, May I know what is my
crime?" The King said - "I have heard that you are a spy and
have to kill me, but I will kill you first." And he ordered hi people
to strike him. The physician fell on his feet and cried - "Spare my
life and yours will be spared."
The
fisherman stopped here and said to the Genie - "See, what had
happened between them, is happening her between us. The King did not
listen to him, and the executioner tied his eyes. All others sitting there
also begged for his life but in vain. The physician begged him -
"Your Majesty, At least you let me put my affairs in order. I will
give my books to somebody who can make good use of them. There is one book
among them which may be of good interest to Your Majesty. It contains many
curious things. The main one is, if you will turn to the sixth leaf, and
read the 3rd line on left-hand page, my head will answer all the questions
you will wish to ask."
The
King got eager to see such a wonderful thing, put off his execution for
next day and sent him to his house under a strict guard. He put his things
in order and next day a great crows gathered to see his death and the
matters after it. The physician took a large book to the King. He had a
large basin in his hand on which the covering of the book was spread.
Presenting the both to the King he said - "When I am killed, keep my
head in this basin on this covering. As soon as you will keep my head on
it, the blood will stop to flow. Then open the book, ask your questions
and my head will answer them. But, Your Majesty, I again implore you that
I am innocent."
The
King said - "Your prayers are useless, and if I have to hear your
head speak, you have to die." The head was so cleverly cut off that
it fell off into the basin and as soon as it fell off there, the blood
stopped to flow. To the great surprise of the King, the eyes of the
physician opened and said to the king - "Your Majesty, Open the
book." The King opened the book, but the leaves were stuck to one
another, so he put his finger in his mouth to wet it so that he can easily
turn the pages and reached the 6th leaf, but there was nothing written on
it.
The
King said - "Physician, There is nothing written on this page."
The physician's head said - "Go on a few more pages." The king
did so by wetting his finger by licking it, till the poison, in each page
was dipped, took effect. His sight failed and he fell down from his
throne. Just before a few minutes of King's falling, the physician's head
said - "See, How cruelty and injustice are punished." Just after
the King died, the head also died. This was story of the Vazeer and the
Greek King."
To
Return to the "Story of Fisherman"....
The
fisherman further said - "If the Greek King had spared the physician,
he would not have died. The same thing applies to you, so I am going to
throw you in the sea." The Genie said - "Please do not treat me
as Immaa treated Itekaa." The fisherman asked - "How Immaa
treated Itekaa?" Genie said - "Do you think I am going to tell
you that story while I am shut up in this vessel? First you let me out
then only I will tell you that story. You let me be out and I will make
you rich."
This
offer made the fisherman agreeable and he opened the mouth of the vessel.
The Genie came out like before and first thing he did was to kick to
vessel into the sea. The fisherman got scared abut the Genie convinced him
that he would not deceive him so he need not to be scared. Then he said to
him - "Come, Take your nets and follow me." The Genie led him to
a flat place surrounded by four small hills. There was a large lake of
clear clean water. He asked the fisherman to catch the fish from that
lake.
There
were many fish there, so thought to catch a large fish there, but he
noticed that there were only four color fish - white, red, blue, and
yellow. He caught four fish, one of each color. Since he had not seen such
fish before he was very happy to se them. The Genie said - "Take
these fish to your Sultaan, he will give you more money or them you might
have not imagined even. But be careful not to catch fish more than once a
day, otherwise some harm may fall upon you." After saying this the
Genie stamped his foot on the ground, the earth opened and he disappeared
there only.
The
fisherman took the fish to the King. The King was very surprise to see
such fish. He admired them or long then he gave them to his Vazeer and
asked him to give them to his head cook to cook them. The Vazeer did the
same. Vazeer went back to King and the King asked him to give 400 gold
pieces to the fisherman. The fisherman had not seen so much money before.
He was very happy to get that money. He went back to his home and
fulfilled his daily needs.
The
cook had not seen such fish, she was also surprised to see them, but then
she cleaned them, put them in a pan with oil and put the pan on fire. When
they got cooked from one side, she turned them to be cooked from the other
side. As soon as she turned them a wall of the kitchen opened and a
beautiful woman came out of that wall wearing Egyptian dress of flowered
satin. She was holding a wand in her hand. She asked the fish - "Are
you doing your duty?" They replied "Yes." She overturned
the pan, the fish fell down on the floor and the woman disappeared in the
same wall. The cook got startled seeing all this. When she picked the fish
from the floor, they were as black as charcoal. She started weeping.
After
a while Vazeer came to ask if the fish were ready, the cook told him the
whole account of what had happened there. The Vazeer was very surprised to
hear that. He called the fisherman and asked him to bring similar fish
again. This time Vazeer thought that he would also witness those events if
they really happened. So he asked the cook to cook them again in front of
him. The cook cooked in the same way and the woman appeared from the same
wall again and spoilt the fish. Now there was no limit of surprise of the
Vazeer too. He went to the King and told him what had happened in the
kitchen.
The
King also got surprised to hear all this, "How it could be?"
Then he decided to see it all by himself. He called the fisherman again
and asked him if he could those kinds of fish again for him. The fisherman
told him to bring them again the next day. The next day he brought those
four fish again. The King gave him 400 pices of gold, took them to his
room and asked his cook to cook them again in the same way as she cooked
them before. This time a black man appeared from a wall, carrying a black
stick in his hand, asked the fish - "Fish, fish, are you doing your
duty?" The fish answered "Yes" and overturned the pan which
caused them to fall on the floor. The Black Man disappeared the way he
came. As the cook picked those fish they were as black as charcoal.
The
King thought that these fish are not ordinary fish, they signify some
mystery. I will have to clear that. So he called the fisherman again and
asked him where did he catch those fish from? He said - "Your
Majesty, I catch them from a lake surrounded by the four hills beyond the
mountains." The King asked his Vazeer - "Do you know this
lake?" "No, I have hunted many times around that mountain, I
have never heard about it." Then he asked the Fisherman - "How
far is it? Can you take us there?" "Yes, Your Majesty. It is
only three hours journey." The King ordered his people and reached
the lake. As fisherman described, the lake was there and four color fish
were swimming in it. The King asked to camp near the shore of the lake.
When
night fell, the King said to his Vazeer - "I have decided to solve
this mystery, so I am going alone. If anybody asks about me, tell him that
I am sick and cannot see anybody. Do this everyday till I come." The
Vazeer tried to stop him but in vain. When all was quiet, he took off his
royal robe, took his sword and set out for his journey alone.
Across
the plain and one of the hills he saw a great building. Its gate was open
so he entered the gate. Inside also the door was open, although he called
many times "Is there anybody here?", when nobody answered, he
went inside the palace. The palace was beautifully decorated but there was
nobody living there. He came to a court where a fountain was running and
around it there were four lions who were throwing sweet water from their
mouths. But as the water fell in the small pond it turned into most
beautiful diamonds and rubies. The palace was surrounded by forests and
lakes from three sides. Many birds were singing there and there was a net
on the top so that the birds do not fly away.
At the
same time he heard a moaning sound. The King went to look for him and
found a young man sitting on a throne very sad. He was richly clothed. The
Sultaan bowed to him in respect, the young man also bowed a little but did
not rise. He said to the Sultaan - "I am sorry, I cannot rise from my
seat." The Sultaan said - "I am sure you have a good reason not
to rise. I have come here hearing your moaning sound. How can I help you?
Whose palace is this and why it is so quiet here?" The young man
removed his robe and showed him that his half the body was of black
marble. Seeing this the Sultaan was horrified and asked him to tell his
story. The young man said - "Sure, I will."
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