The Man Who Wished to Be Perfect

Once on a time a religious mendicant came to a king who had no issue,

and said to him, "As you are anxious to have a son, I can give to the

queen a drug, by swallowing which she will give birth to twin sons;

but I will give the medicine on this condition, that of those twins you

will give one to me, and keep the other yourself." The king thought

the condition somewhat hard, but as he was anxious to have a son to

bear his name, and inherit his wealth and kingdom, he at last agreed

to the terms. Accordingly the queen swallowed the drug, and in due

time gave birth to two sons. The twin brothers became one year old,

two years old, three years old, four years old, five years old, and

still the mendicant did not appear to claim his share; the king and

queen therefore thought that the mendicant, who was old, was dead, and

dismissed all fears from their minds. But the mendicant was not dead,

but living; he was counting the years carefully. The young princes

were put under tutors, and made rapid progress in learning, as well

as in the arts of riding and shooting with the bow; and as they were

uncommonly handsome, they were admired by all the people. When the

princes were sixteen years old the mendicant made his appearance at the

palace gate, and demanded the fulfilment of the king's promise. The

hearts of the king and of the queen were dried up within them. They

had thought that the mendicant was no more in the land of the living;

but what was their surprise when they saw him standing at the gate

in flesh and blood, and demanding one of the young princes for

himself? The king and queen were plunged into a sea of grief. There

was nothing for it, however, but to part with one of the princes;

for the mendicant might by his curse turn into ashes not only both

the princes, but also the king, queen, palace, and the whole of the

kingdom to boot. But which one was to be given away? The one was as

dear as the other. A fearful struggle arose in the hearts of the king

and queen. As for the young princes, each of them said, "I'll go,"

"I'll go." The younger one said to the elder, "You are older, if

only by a few minutes; you are the pride of my father; you remain

at home, I'll go with the mendicant." The elder said to the younger,

"You are younger than I am; you are the joy of my mother; you remain

at home, I'll go with the mendicant." After a great deal of yea and

nay, after a great deal of mourning and lamentation, after the queen

had wetted her clothes with her tears, the elder prince was let go

with the mendicant. But before the prince left his father's roof he

planted with his own hands a tree in the courtyard of the palace, and

said to his parents and brother, "This tree is my life. When you see

the tree green and fresh, then know that it is well with me; when you

see the tree fade in some parts, then know that I am in an ill case;

and when you see the whole tree fade, then know that I am dead and

gone." Then kissing and embracing the king and queen and his brother,

he followed the mendicant.

As the mendicant and the prince were wending their way towards the

forest they saw some dog's whelps on the roadside. One of the whelps

said to its dam, "Mother, I wish to go with that handsome young man,

who must be a prince." The dam said, "Go"; and the prince gladly

took the puppy as his companion. They had not gone far when upon

a tree on the roadside they saw a hawk and its young ones. One of

the young ones said to its dam, "Mother, I wish to go with that

handsome young man, who must be the son of a king." The hawk said,

"Go"; and the prince gladly took the young hawk as his companion. So

the mendicant, the prince, with the puppy and the young hawk, went

on their journey. At last they went into the depth of the forest far

away from the houses of men, where they stopped before a hut thatched

with leaves. That was the mendicant's cell. The mendicant said to

the prince, "You are to live in this hut with me. Your chief work

will be to cull flowers from the forest for my devotions. You can

go on every side except the north. If you go towards the north evil

will betide you. You can eat whatever fruit or root you like; and

for your drink, you will get it from the brook." The prince disliked

neither the place nor his work. At dawn he used to cull flowers in

the forest and give them to the mendicant; after which the mendicant

went away somewhere the whole day and did not return till sundown;

so the prince had the whole day to himself. He used to walk about in

the forest with his two companions--the puppy and the young hawk. He

used to shoot arrows at the deer, of which there was a great number;

and thus made the best of his time. One day as he pierced a stag with

an arrow, the wounded stag ran towards the north, and the prince, not

thinking of the mendicant's behest, followed the stag, which entered

into a fine-looking house that stood close by. The prince entered,

but instead of finding the deer he saw a young woman of matchless

beauty sitting near the door with a dice-table set before her. The

prince was rooted to the spot while he admired the heaven-born

beauty of the lady. "Come in, stranger," said the lady; "chance has

brought you here, but don't go away without having with me a game of

dice." The prince gladly agreed to the proposal. As it was a game of

risk they agreed that if the prince lost the game he should give his

young hawk to the lady; and that if the lady lost it, she should give

to the prince a young hawk just like that of the prince. The lady won

the game; she therefore took the prince's young hawk and kept it in a

hole covered with a plank. The prince offered to play a second time,

and the lady agreeing to it, they fell to it again, on the condition

that if the lady won the game she should take the prince's puppy,

and if she lost it she should give to the prince a puppy just like

that of the prince. The lady won again, and stowed away the puppy in

another hole with a plank upon it. The prince offered to play a third

time, and the wager was that, if the prince lost the game, he should

give himself up to the lady to be done to by her anything she pleased;

and that if he won, the lady should give him a young man exactly like

himself. The lady won the game a third time; she therefore caught hold

of the prince and put him in a hole covered over with a plank. Now,

the beautiful lady was not a woman at all; she was a Rakshasi who

lived upon human flesh, and her mouth watered at the sight of the

tender body of the young prince. But as she had had her food that

day she reserved the prince for the meal of the following day.

Meantime there was great weeping in the house of the prince's

father. His brother used every day to look at the tree planted in

the courtyard by his own hand. Hitherto he had found the leaves of

a living green colour; but suddenly he found some leaves fading. He

gave the alarm to the king and queen, and told them how the leaves

were fading. They concluded that the life of the elder prince must

be in great danger. The younger prince therefore resolved to go to

the help of his brother, but before going he planted a tree in the

courtyard of the palace, similar to the one his brother had planted,

and which was to be the index of the manner of his life. He chose

the swiftest steed in the king's stables, and galloped towards the

forest. In the way he saw a dog with a puppy, and the puppy thinking

that the rider was the same that had taken away his fellow-cub--for

the two princes were exactly like each other--said, "As you have

taken away my brother, take me also with you." The younger prince

understanding that his brother had taken away a puppy, he took up

that cub as a companion. Further on, a young hawk, which was perched

on a tree on the roadside, said to the prince, "You have taken away

my brother; take me also, I beseech you"; on which the younger prince

readily took it up. With these companions he went into the heart of the

forest, where he saw a hut which he supposed to be the mendicant's. But

neither the mendicant nor his brother was there. Not knowing what to

do or where to go, he dismounted from his horse, allowed it to graze,

while he himself sat inside the house. At sunset the mendicant returned

to his hut, and seeing the younger prince, said, "I am glad to see

you. I told your brother never to go towards the north, for evil in

that case would betide him; but it seems that, disobeying my orders,

he has gone to the north and has fallen into the toils of a Rakshasi

who lives there. There is no hope of rescuing him; perhaps he has

already been devoured." The younger prince forthwith went towards

the north, where he saw a stag which he pierced with an arrow. The

stag ran into a house which stood by, and the younger prince followed

it. He was not a little astonished when, instead of seeing a stag,

he saw a woman of exquisite beauty. He immediately concluded, from

what he had heard from the mendicant, that the pretended woman was none

other than the Rakshasi in whose power his brother was. The lady asked

him to play a game of dice with her. He complied with the request,

and on the same conditions on which the elder prince had played. The

younger prince won; on which the lady produced the young hawk from the

hole and gave it to the prince. The joy of the two hawks on meeting

each other was great. The lady and the prince played a second time,

and the prince won again. The lady therefore brought to the prince

the young puppy lying in the hole. They played a third time, and the

prince won a third time. The lady demurred to producing a young man

exactly like the prince, pretending that it was impossible to get one;

but on the prince insisting upon the fulfilment of the condition,

his brother was produced. The joy of the two brothers on meeting each

other was great. The Rakshasi said to the princes, "Don't kill me,

and I will tell you a secret which will save the life of the elder

prince." She then told them that the mendicant was a worshipper of the

goddess Kali, who had a temple not far off; that he belonged to that

sect of Hindus who seek perfection from intercourse with the spirits of

departed men; that he had already sacrificed at the altar of Kali six

human victims whose skulls could be seen in niches inside her temple;

that he would become perfect when the seventh victim was sacrificed;

and that the elder prince was intended for the seventh victim. The

Rakshasi then told the prince to go immediately to the temple to find

out the truth of what she had said. To the temple they accordingly

went. When the elder prince went inside the temple, the skulls in the

niches laughed a ghastly laugh. Horror-struck at the sight and sound,

he inquired the cause of the laughter; and the skulls told him that

they were glad because they were about to get another added to their

number. One of the skulls, as spokesman of the rest, said, "Young

prince, in a few days the mendicant's devotions will be completed, and

you will be brought into this temple and your head will be cut off, and

you will keep company with us. But there is one way by which you can

escape that fate and do us good." "Oh, do tell me," said the prince,

"what that way is, and I promise to do you all the good I can." The

skull replied, "When the mendicant brings you into this temple to offer

you up as a sacrifice, before cutting off your head he will tell you

to prostrate yourself before Mother Kali, and while you prostrate

yourself he will cut off your head. But take our advice, when he

tells you to bow down before Kali, you tell him that as a prince you

never bowed down to any one, that you never knew what bowing down was,

and that the mendicant should show it to you by himself doing it in

your presence. And when he bows down to show you how it is done, you

take up your sword and separate his head from his body. And when you

do that we shall all be restored to life, as the mendicant's vows will

be unfulfilled." The elder prince thanked the skulls for their advice,

and went into the hut of the mendicant along with his younger brother.

In the course of a few days the mendicant's devotions were

completed. On the following day he told the prince to go along with

him to the temple of Kali, for what reason he did not mention; but the

prince knew it was to offer him up as a victim to the goddess. The

younger prince also went with them, but he was not allowed to go

inside the temple. The mendicant then stood in the presence of Kali

and said to the prince, "Bow down to the goddess." The prince replied,

"I have not, as a prince, bowed to any one; I do not know how to

perform the act of prostration. Please show me the way first, and

I'll gladly do it." The mendicant then prostrated himself before the

goddess; and while he was doing so the prince at one stroke of his

sword separated his head from his body. Immediately the skulls in the

niches of the temple laughed aloud, and the goddess herself became

propitious to the prince and gave him that virtue of perfection which

the mendicant had sought to obtain. The skulls were again united to

their respective bodies and became living men, and the two princes

returned to their country.

Here my story endeth,

The Natiya-thorn withereth, etc.