Four Morals from my book Folklore of Kathiawar

Four Morals

In Varahnagar king Janak Sen was ruling. He was intelligent, clever, lover of arts and he himself was an expert in poetry. As he was a devotee of knowledge many experts used to come to him and he gave them good rewards, so his fame had spread all over.

One time in his court four wise people came. The king was sitting with his full court. The wise men gave him blessings and they sat on their seats.

The first wise man said: “When in anger, thinking is the moral.”

The second wise man said: “In front of enemy, the emotions are the moral.”

The third wise man said: “The secret is the moral when dealing with ladies.”

The fourth wise man said: “The moral of the moral if ‘Ghee’.”

On hearing these four short sentences the king rewarded each of them. He got these sentences inscribed on a big board and kept the board in his bedroom in such a way that he could see them at the time of sleeping and at the time of waking up. He thought of testing those morals.

One day in city the city artists came to play ‘Bhavai’. As the artists were very good even the king thought of going to see them. The accepted their invitation of watching their bhavai. The king’s princess was of a big age. She also wished to see the bhavai; so she got dressed in man’s clothes and went to see the bhavai. She returned home at late night. She was feeling much sleepy so without changing her male dress she slept along with her mother.

The king returned late in the night after seeing the bhavai. On entering the bed room he saw his queen sleeping with some other male. On seeing this, the flames of anger erupted in his mind and he got ready to kill both of them. He unsheathed his sward and was about to strike them, at that time he saw the first moral, “Thinking is the moral when angry.”

The king thought, “According to this sentence I should not do any misadventure. To think when one is angry is a big moral. From here where can this man run away? Let me wake up the queen.” He woke up the queen by calling her and asked, “Who is this man sleeping with you?” The queen laughed and said, “He is not a man, she is our princess. She had gone to see the bhavai in this dress. As she was much sleepy she slept in this way only.” On hearing them talks the princess also got up and the king’s doubt was removed. To think when angry was truly a moral and it was proved. Because of this sentence the king was saved from the sin of killing two women so he thanked the God.

One day an astrologer told to the king Janak Sen, “On the North direction, there is a snake hole under the Shami tree. From there a snake will come after fifteen days and bite you at twelve O’ clock.

On listening the king was much worried but he thought about the second moral so he thought to put it in practice. When the day told by the astrologer arrived, then the place where there was the snake hole, from there to the king’s bedroom, he got the path cleaned and made it beautiful by spreading flowers on the full way. At small intervals special pots filled with sweet milk were kept. He decorated his bedroom also with various fragrant flowers. He kept the milk pots at all the four sides of his bed and he sat on the bed and started singing hymns.

At twelve O’ clock in the night when the snake came out of his hole, he was very pleased by the fragrance of the flowers. Little away he saw a pot of milk and he was satisfied by drinking milk from it. On the full path he saw that there were fragrant flowers and also the milk pots were kept. “All this arrangement will be made by the king only. How can I bite the person who welcomes me in such a way? Thinking this snake moved ahead and reached the palace.

As he advanced in the palace he saw more and more flowers, sandal wood etc. On coming near the king’s bed, he saw that on every side of the bed a milk pot was kept. He drank some milk from one pot and thought, “I cannot climb the bed from the place where I drank milk.” He moved around the bed from all the directions and drank milk from all the sides. He was very happy by such a welcome and said, “O, king! I am your enemy then also you welcomed me in such a way so I cannot bite you. Actually I have been ordered to take your life by biting you, then also I will request on your behalf to spare your life.”

The king thanked the snake. The snake went to his Guru and told him that he had granted life to the king as the king had welcomed him very nicely. The guru of the snake requested the death god and after pleasing him made an arrangement that the blessing of the snake becomes true.

“Emotions towards enemy is the moral”, this moral was also proved to be true so the king was very happy.

“The secret in front of a lady is also a moral.” To test this moral the king started telling about his all work to his queen. One time he got angry on a servant and decided to remove him from job. This thing he discussed with his minister. He also told this matter to his queen. While talking with a maid when the matter about the servant came out then the queen told the maid that the king would remove that servant. The maid was in love with that servant so she told this immediately to the servant.

The servant came running to the king and begged to forgive his mistake. The king said, “If you tell me truly about the person who informed you about this matter then I will forgive you.” The servant answered, “A maid told me this.” When he was asked as why the maid informed him about this matter then he said that she was in love with him. The king called the maid and it became clear that the queen had told her about the matter. From this the king understood that even if we tell our most secret matter to ladies then also it will come out. So this moral is also useful was proved.

The king ordered that, “There should not be even a single drop of ghee in my food; use oil where the ghee is used.” This order was executed. After eating the oily food for three to four days the king started suffering from cough; then also he continued eating oily food. His health spoiled more. The king’s doctor examined him and said that this problem has arisen because of not using ghee.

So the king believed that ghee is also a type of moral. On finding all the morals to be true, the king declared that these true morals be circulated among the people. Only the person following these morals can live a good life. The person who does not think about any moral, that person will be thrown back from everywhere and would be thought as his birth as a human was useless.

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