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| Sunday, 2 October 2005 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Human kindness: Princess and her choice Sunday Parable by Sunanda Mahendra 'Who is that bare- bodied man eating left-overs, surrounded by animals
and birds? It looks fascinating but demeaning. Don't you think so?
Human kindness The queen-mother said, "that is a veddah who lives in the forest. He must have been quite hungry and thats why he has come to eat the left-over milkrice. The royal cooks have cooked so much that a large portion had to be thrown off for animals to eat." "But surely, it is degrading on the part of a human being to do so, because he should not live among animals like dogs, cats, pigs and birds, who have come to eat that same food in a garbage ground? Why can't he come and eat that same food from our palace?" "But my darling, you must understand that the veddahs don't come to a royal palace. They live in the jungle and they are a tribe of hunters," she said. "But this young man looks hungry. "He is also handsome and strong and if he wears royal clothes he would surely look like a prince. Can't he then enter the royal palace?" "My dear daughter, you are talking of something that could happen only in a fantasy. Hunters are hunters, and they live in the jungle and they can be kings of the jungle, and not in any other place, unless they prove that they are fit to be kings." "But that looks unfair because if I marry him can't he become a prince?" asked the princess. "Well that could happen only if you choose him to be your legitimate partner with the royal blessings. But such a thing is not likely to happen." "Why not? Supposing I want him to be my husband, will you not regard him as a prince? I am disgusted with these idiotic princes hanging around in our kingdom so pompously." "But my dear daughter, don't talk nonsense, you are a royal princess." "But has this not happened in the past in any kingdom?" "That would have happened perhaps elsewhere." The princess kept silent for the moment and thought of the plight of the hunter who was seen eating the thrown off milkrice. "He is a human being though he is a hunter. So, can't he become a king one day?" "That's something I can't say, you see," said the queen in a nervous tone. "I want to talk to that young hunter and give him some fresh food, can't I do that?" asked the princess. "I must obtain permission from your father, the king of the country." Then the queen or the mother of the princess approached the king and told him all about what the princess discussed with her regarding the hunter. "Looks as if she has lost her senses, said the king in an angry tone. "How do you expect me to entertain a hunter as my son-in-law?" A choice made In the meantime, the princess with the assistance of her maid-servant prepared some food for the hunter. "You should not eat these thrown off milkrice as you are a human being. I have instead brought some royal food. So take this and come out to speak with me," said the princess to a surprised hunter. The maidservant went aside leaving the princess with the hunter. "I want to live with you and perhaps you are the destined partner I was looking for all these days," said the princess. "I live in the forest and you live in a royal palace and these are two diametrically opposed places demarcated by man-kind in order to control, divide and rule." "Who cares for these petty rules? If you want to live with me, I am ready." Then they lived for several days in the forest. The princess underwent all the hardships in the forest but she had to bear them for the sake of her love for the hunter. At this juncture, there appeared another young hunter into the scene about whom the princess had some sort of strange attraction. When the former went hunting the new-comer made advances towards the princess and won her over to his side. He was quite different from the former. One day it so happened that the new-comer brought a large piece of meat and asked the princess to cook it for him, for which the instant answer was negative. "No, I can't. I have not come to cook food for you. I don't eat animal flesh as I am a royal princess, though I have come to live with a hunter." "Mind your own business, I am going to meet once again my real lover. My first love," she said. The second hunter was put to shame. She left in search of the first hunter. She met him and apologised for her error of judgement. He pardoned her saying, "such things happen in the forest and mind you, I still believe in your love and kindness towards me and I don't want to hate and kill him. I don't believe in hating each other." At this time, there was a royal proclamation to say that there is a fierce tiger roaming about the country who kills human beings, and if there is any person who can kill it, there will be a special royal reward given to that person. He will be honoured as 'the saviour of the kingdom'. In order to prove that the fierce tiger is killed, the killer should bring the tiger's head to the palace. "I am going to take this challenge and prove that I am the saviour of this kingdom," said the hunter to the princess. "Can you kill a fierce tiger? Are you trained to do so?" asked the princess. "If you want me to become the king of this country after the death of your father, I must kill the tiger. I am positive that no other person can do what I have learned. But I need your blessings." "I bless you become the saviour of the kingdom and become the king of the country and I become the queen of the country." The hunter adopted some strange techniques to tame the tiger, not by any harsh means but by some polite dealings. He managed to trap the tiger and the news reached the royal palace. "I have trapped that man eating tiger. But I don't want to kill him in order to take the head to the palace. Let the king come and see it with his own eyes." The news about the entrapment of the tiger on the part of a young hunter was heard all over the kingdom. Accepted after all The king got up from his restless sleepy mood and looked outside to see a young hunter and a young princess coming towards the palace. The king called his wife, the queen and said "look who is coming?" "That's our daughter with the hunter she loved. Don't you know that he had trapped the killer tiger?" asked the queen "Yes, I got the information from various royal sources. "So I proclaim that he be my successor," responded the king with a smile welcoming the hunter to the main royal chamber. |
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Please
tell me what you know about him, dear mother,' pleaded the young princess
looking at the far away scene where a veddah was seen eating the left-over
milkrice (kiribath) cooked for an almsgiving ceremony held on the previous
day in the palace. 
