24-The Meanest Man
Even
the meanest person has some conscious
Vikram
pulled Vaitaal from the tree with full force, put him on his shoulder and started walking fast. Vaitaal
again started telling a story to Vikram, he said - "Vikram, Now I
tell you a true story of Swarn Desh.
There
lived a rich man who helped poor people, that is why all people praised
him. Even the king also praised him. He had only one son. Because of being
the only child, he was brought up with great care and love. As the time
passed, he grew up as a fine young handsome boy.
Now,
there lived a newly married woman in his neighborhood. Her husband was not
very good, so she got attracted to him. Since both houses were adjacent to
each other, they could go to each other's house easily. Once that woman's
husband went to foreign lands, so she was alone. She thought to go to that
boy's room.
In the
night she came to the house of the rich man and then entered that boy's
room. She knew the room of that boy. He was awake at that time. He got
stunned to see a woman's figure at his room's door. He asked her -
"Who are you?" That woman didn't reply anything, just came near
his bed and said - "I am your beloved." and she lay down beside
him. The boy got scared. The woman requested to love her, but that boy
took her as a witch and got unconscious. The woman also got scared seeing
him unconscious.
By
chance some thieves entered the rich man's house. That woman's
husband was also among those thieves. He used to say at home, that he was
going to foreign lands, but he used to steal during those days. He told
the stolen things as his business profit and impressed his neighbors.
That
woman hid seeing the thieves. And she was extremely surprised when she saw
her husband among those thieves. She saw everything, her husband and other
thieves stole the things from that rich man's house and went away. The
woman came back to her house quietly.
A lot
of noise rose from the rich man's house when the boy told everything to
his parents. He told about the woman also. Everybody was stunned at this.
The boy saw his neighbor's wife and he recognized her and told his father
everything.
The
rich man told this incident to the king. The king's soldiers came and took the
woman to the king. The woman bluntly refused that she had committed any
crime. She said - "It is only because of jealousy, that the boy is
blaming me."
She
was saying this to the king that the king's soldiers brought her husband
also for stealing in rich man's house, along with the stolen things. Her
husband was caught in a ruins. when she saw her husband, she got scared.
After hearing everybody, the king ordered for the husband to be hanged,
and for the woman to be expelled.
After
telling all this, Vaitaal said - "This was the king's judgment, what
is your judgment, Vikram?" Vikram didn't speak anything, Vaitaal asked him
again.
Vikram
said - "I think the king's judgment was wrong." "Why?"
"It was all right to hang the man, but it was wrong to expel
the woman." "Why?" "The woman hid everything in spite of knowing
everything, and thus tried to save herself only; it was her Dharm."
Vitaal laughed - "Does such a woman have any kind of Dharm, this is
only womanish character." Vikram said seriously - "Even the
meanest man has some kind of Dharm. Although she lost her mind because of
her bad husband, still she loved her husband, that is why she did not want
her husband to be punished. That is why it was not right to punish her. It
is not right to consider a man mean all the time."
Vaitaal
said - "You are right, Vikram." He again laughed loudly, that
Vikram held him tightly. Vaitaal said - "Don't worry, I will not run
away now." But Vikram didn't trust him so he held him tightly.
|
