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| Sunday, 30 October 2005 |
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Pride:
Princely beggar and his princess Sunday Parable by Sunanda Mahendra 'You may be a princess and my only daughter but your behaviour seems a
disgrace to the entire royal lineage,' said the King summoning his
"So what are you going to do now?" asked the King. At this moment, a bearded prince visited the palace and wanted to seek the hand of the princess. "He is one of the chief sub kings in my kingdom. Don't you like to get married to him?" asked the King. "I don't like his bearded face," Said the Princess. The King was silent for a moment and responded in an angry tone. "If that's the case, I have to give you in marriage to the first beggar who comes to the palace tomorrow morning, as he may be the best suitor. "The chief sub king overheard this and left the palace thinking of a way of disguising himself as a beggar. To the surprise of the King, the following morning there appeared a beggar at the doorstep of the palace. "Am I the first beggar to see your majesty today?" asked the beggar. "What do you want?" asked the King."I want to seek the hand of your daughter, who is supposed to dislike the princes who came to see her." What an exciting moment, recalled the King remembering his words uttered the previous day."I have to be true to myself," thought the King. I told my daughter that I will give her in marriage to the first beggar who comes to the palace. So this is that lucky beggar. Then he called his daughter and said: "I have to keep the promise I made yesterday. You have to get married to that beggar at the doorstep and try to lead a life with him as the royal princes will never be suitable partners, due to your own proud self". The proud princess was reluctantly compelled to leave the royal palace with the beggar. The beggar took the hand of the Princess and walked out with meagre necessities like some clothes and ornaments handed over to her by the King as her belongings. Then he advised the Princess, "Look after this person well as he is your husband now. And try to lead a better life with him." Then he turned towards the beggar and told him, "Look after my daughter well I am sure she will be an ideal wife for you." New life begins The King felt sorry when he saw his daughter leaving the palace gates. The beggar and his royal bride walked and walked until they were tired. "Oh I am too tired," said the Princess. "This is the life of us beggars and we have no royal comforts whatsoever." Then they passed through a beautiful royal park. "Who owns this park?" asked the Princess "This belongs to the chief sub king of the region. "Oh my god," said the Princess heaving a sigh, then she saw a great mansion. "Who owns that fine mansion?" she asked the beggar. That too belongs to the chief sub king of the region," said the beggar. Then they walked into a wayside resting place (ambalama) . "We must stay here for the night and you must cook food for both of us," said the beggar bringing some pots and pans from a corner. "Oh, I have never cooked any food," said the Princess. "If that's so, we will have to starve or depend on somebody else who comes to this place. "Don't you have a proper place to stay, a house of your own?"she asked. "There is no proper place as such. But there is a little hut of my own where we could stay together when we leave this ambalama. " Then the following morning the beggar and the Princess bride walked further and came to a small hut. "The Princess found the place quite dirty and disarranged. "How can I live here in this dirty place," thought the Princess and grumbled and complained. "Beggars cannot be choosers. Did I not tell you that a beggar's life is full of hardships and agonies. It is a matter for us to make ourselves happy with our meagre needs, and try to suit yourself to that pattern. In the first instance we got to beg from house to house," said the beggar. "Then we got to cook our own food and we should manage to sleep on any rugged place.on earth." Day by day things became impossible for the princess but she had no way of escaping the situation. "Isn't there something easier than begging from house to house?" asked the princess. "Yes there is one way if you care to choose." "What is that?" "I will bring you some clay pots. Perhaps you may take them to the marketplace and sell them in order to earn more money. Will that suit you?" she nodded in agreement. The beggar brought some new clay pots from a village furnace and handed them over to the Princess. The test When she installed a place to sell the clay pots a drunken horseman came rushing in and broke all the clay pots and said: "Get away from this place. This is the order of the King." The Princess met her husband the beggar and said, "It is impossible for me to sell the clay pots as there is a royal horseman who breaks them." "Don't cry my darling," said the beggar. "These are some of the indecent ways of thugs and hooligans who call themselves king's men. They would not even allow a beggar to do a decent trade. So it is better to find something different from that trade." "What do you suggest?" asked the dismayed Princess. "I came to know from a very reliable source that the chef of the royal kitchen of the chief sub king of the region is in need of some female kitchen hands. Perhaps you can be one of them." "But I have never worked in a kitchen all my life." "You need not be worried over that for I know the royal chef well. He only wants someone to help him and in the process, you may get to know how to cook food." Then the beggar went with his spouse, the Princess to the royal kitchen and got her employed as soon as possible. While working in the royal kitchen she came to know that the chief sub king of the region is trying his best to select a royal princess as his queen consort. Truth revealed One day the beggar came to see her in the royal kitchen and enquired as to how she is progressing. "I am undergoing hardships and I miss you so much. There isn't hardly any friends of my calibre here. So I don't mind leaving this place to go elsewhere with you from place to place." At this, the beggar felt sorry for her and said: "I can see how difficult is for you to live with me, a beggar, as you are a princess. So I have decided one thing." "What is that?" asked the princess. "I know the chief sub king well. So I will usher you to his royal chamber and introduce him to you and ask him to marry you divulging the fact that you are a princess." At this the Princess sobbed and said, "I have come to understand all your kindness despite the fact that you are a beggar. It was my own folly of being proud that befell me. I will try my best to adjust myself to suit your lifestyle from here onwards" Then the beggar in a kind hearted manner looked at her face. The Princess too looked at his face in the loveliest manner possible discarding the proud self that had covered her earlier. "I belong to you now", said the Princess looking into his eyes. "Yes I know", said the beggar revealing his real identity. "I was that bearded prince who came later.disguised as a beggar and I was that drunken horseman thug who shattered all your clay pots at the marketplace. I did all that in order to help you learn the stark realities of life. The Princess had a smile on her face. She embraced the Prince and said, "You are a princely beggar." The female attendants of the royal palace ushered her to the royal bathing pond and helped her with all the herbal and scented ointments. A wedding ceremony was arranged later and the father of the Princess, the King of the country, was the chief guest. But whether they lived happily or not thereafter I am not too sure. |
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daughter,
who had refused several matrimonial bids offered by several princes of the
adjoining kingdoms. "I don't want to get married to these good for nothing
princes who call themselves future heirs to the throne." 
