The Magic Priest and the Kidnapper
Gang
[Power and Greed]
Long ago in Benares, there was a king named Brahmadatta. In
one of the remote villages in King Brahmadatta’s kingdom lived a priest who had
magical powers. He knew a special magic spell which was transmitted to him
secretly by his teacher. But, this spell could only be used once a year, when
the planets were lined up in a certain way. Only then would the spell work when
the priest uttered the secret magic words into his open palms, looked up into the
sky, and clapped his hands. A shower of precious jewels would then fall from
the sky onto him.
Now, this priest had a very good student. He was intelligent
and able to understand the most difficult ideas. He was also obedient and
faithful, and always wished to honour and protect his master. One day, the
priest had to go on a trip to a faraway village to perform an animal sacrifice.
Since he had to take a dangerous route, the good student went with him.
Along this route hid a gang of 500 bandits known as the
‘Kidnapper Gang’. They captured people and demanded ransom in exchange for
their lives. The priest and his good student were unfortunately captured by the
Kidnapper Gang. They wanted a ransom of 5,000 gold coins in exchange for the
life and freedom of the priest. So, they sent the student to get the money.
Before leaving, the student knelt before his teacher and
bowed respectfully. “Oh master, tonight is the night in which the planets will
align perfectly, and your spell will work,” whispered the student so the
bandits could not hear. “However, I must warn you, my beloved and respected
teacher, that to use this power to save yourself from these greedy men would be
extremely dangerous. Obtaining great wealth so easily would lead to disaster for
them. If you think only of your own safety, and brought harm to them, that will
also cause danger to you as well. “Therefore, my teacher, do not conjure the
spell of jewels tonight. Let this auspicious night pass by for this year. Even
if these bandits harm you, trust your faithful student to save
you, without adding to your danger.” With that, he left. That
evening, the kidnappers tied up the priest tightly, and left him outside their
cave for the night. They gave him nothing to eat or drink. When the moon came
out and the priest saw the planets aligning, he thought, “Why should I suffer
like this? I can use magic to pay for my own ransom. Why should I care if harm befall
these 500 kidnappers? I am a priest with magical powers. My life is worth much
more than theirs. I care only for my own life. Besides, such opportunity comes
but once a year. I cannot waste the chance to use my great power!”
Deciding to ignore his student’s advice, he called the
kidnappers: “Oh, brave and mighty ones, why do you tie me up and make me
suffer?” “Oh holy priest, we need money. We have many mouths to feed. We must
have money, and lots of it!” they answered.
“Ah, you did this for money? Is that all you want? In that
case, I will make you so rich it is beyond your wildest dreams! For I am great
and powerful. As a holy priest, you can trust me. You must untie me, wash my
head and face, dress me in new clothes, and cover me with flowers. Then, after
honouring me, leave me alone to perform my magic.”
The kidnappers followed his instructions. But as they did not
trust him, instead of leaving him alone, they hid in the bushes and watched him
secretly. They saw the priest look up into the sky, lower his head and mutter
the magic spell into his hands. These were sounds that no one could understand.
The spell sounded something like this: “Nah Wah Shed-nath. Eel Neeah Med-rak.
Goh Bah Mil-neeay.”
Then he gazed into the sky and clapped his hands. Suddenly,
the sky rained the loveliest jewels onto him! The Kidnapper Gang came out from
hiding and grabbed all the precious stones. They wrapped them up in bundles and
went down the route, with the priest behind. On the way, they were stopped by
another gang of 500 robbers. “Why did you stop us?” asked the kidnappers. “Give
us all your wealth!” demanded the other gang.
“Leave us alone. You can get all the riches you want from
this priest here, like we have done. He knows magic. He just has to utter some
magical words, look up into the sky, clap his hands, and the most fabulous
jewels will come falling down!” The robbers let the Kidnapper Gang go, and
surrounded the priest. They demanded that he perform his magic again for them. “Of
course, I can give you all the jewels you want. But you must be patient and
wait for a year. The auspicious time, in which the planets aligned, has passed.
It will not happen again until next year. Come see me then, and I will be happy
to make you rich!” Robbers are not exactly patient people. They became angry at
once. “Ah, you tricky lying priest! You made the Kidnapper Gang wealthy, but
now you refuse to do the same for us. We’ll teach you a lesson for taking us so
lightly!” they shouted at him. Then they sliced him into two with a sharp
sword, and left both halves of his body in the middle of the road. The robbers
pursued the Kidnapper Gang, and a terrible bloody battle ensued. After hours of
fighting, they killed all 500 kidnappers and stole the wonderful gems. As soon
as they left the battleground, the 500 robbers began to quarrel over the
wealth. Dividing into two rival groups of 250 each, they fought another bloody
battle, until only two survived, one from each side.
These two took all the valuable jewels and hid them in the
forest. As they were very hungry, one guarded the treasure, while the other
started cooking. “When the other has finished cooking, I will kill him and keep
all this loot for myself.” thought the one who was guarding the jewels. Meanwhile,
the one who was doing the cooking thought: “If I share the jewels with him, I
will get less. Therefore, I will poison the food, kill the other, and keep all
the jewels for myself. Why share, when I can have them all!” Hungry, he ate
some of the rice, and poisoned the rest. Next, he took the rice pot and offered
it to the other robber. That robber immediately swung his sword and chopped off
the head of the one with the rice pot!
Then he began to eat the poisoned rice. Within minutes, he
dropped dead on the spot! A few days later, the good student returned with the
ransom money. He could not find his teacher or the Kidnapper Gang. Instead, he
found only the worthless possessions they had left behind after getting the
jewels. As he went down the route, he saw the gruesome sight of his teacher’s
dead body. Realising that his teacher must have ignored his warning, he mourned
his grisly death. Then he built a funeral pyre, covered it with wildflowers,
and burned the body of his respected teacher. A little further down the road,
the good student came upon the 500 dead bodies of the Kidnapper Gang. Further
still, he saw 498 bloody bodies of the dead robbers, and two sets of footprints
going into the forest. He suspected the last two would also fight over the treasure.
He followed the footprints until he saw the bundles of valuable jewels and the
two dead bodies - one slumped over the rice pot, and the other with his head
chopped off. He could tell immediately what had happened.
“This is so sad. My teacher had great knowledge, but not
enough common sense. He could not resist using his magical powers, regardless
of the results. By causing the deaths of one thousand greedy thugs, he brought
harm to himself as well,” he thought. The good student took the treasure back
to the village, and used it generously for the benefit of many.
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