Lady Wicked and the
Wise Buttermilk Man
(Seduction)
Once upon a time, there was a very rich man who lived in
Benares. He had a daughter whose beauty was unsurpassed by none. Her skin was
as soft as rose petals, her complexion was like the lotus blossoms, and her
hair was as silky black as midnight. Unfortunately, her beauty was only
skin-deep, for she was a very cruel lady. She insulted her servants and even
enjoyed beating them. Infamous for her cruelty, she was known as ‘Lady Wicked’ by
all in the city.
One day, Lady Wicked went down to the river for her bath with
her servants and guards. Her female servants played and splashed about in the
water while she bathed in the midstream of the river. Suddenly, the skies
turned dark, the winds howled and it started to pour. Most of the attendants
and guards ran away for shelter. “This is a perfect chance for us to rid
ourselves of Lady Wicked once and for all,” said the servants to one other. And
so they abandoned her there, still bathing in the river. The rainstorm became
worse as the sun set.
“Where is my precious daughter?” the rich man asked when he
saw that his daughter was missing. “We saw her coming out of the river, Sir.
But since then we haven’t seen her.
We don’t know where she has gone to,” lied the servants. The
rich man sent relatives out to search for her, but she was nowhere to be found.
Meanwhile, Lady Wicked had been swept downstream by the raging flooded river. Now,
it happened that there lived a holy man in the forest next to the river. He had
been meditating for a long time in the peaceful forest, until he had come to
enjoy a high mental state of inner happiness. And because of this bliss, he was
quite sure that he had left the ordinary desires of the world behind him.
As fate had it, Lady Wicked was carried past the holy man’s
hut by the furious river close to the strike of twelve that very night. She was
yelling and screaming frantically for help. When he heard her, the holy man
realised someone was in danger, so he took a torch down to the river and saw
Lady Wicked being swept along. Without a second thought, he dived in and saved
her. “Don’t worry, I’ll look after you,” he comforted her as he got her limp
body out of the water.
He carried her gently into his hut and built a fire to warm
and dry her up. He also gave her fruits to eat. “Where do you live? How did you
fall into the river?” he asked when her belly was filled. She told him about
the rainstorm and how her servants had deserted her. Taking pity on her, he
allowed her to sleep in his hut for the next couple of nights, while he himself
slept under the stars.
When she had recovered her strength, he told her that it was
time for her to return home. But knowing that he was the sort of holy man who
vowed never to marry and have a wife, she decided to stay and seduce him into
breaking his religious promise out of wilfulness. “I will not leave until he
has fallen in love with me,” she thought to herself. And so, Lady Wicked
resorted to all her womanly grace and wiles to tempt the holy man. After a few
days, she succeeded in seducing him, for the holy man was not yet strong enough
to resist her beguiling ways.
Before long, they began to live together in the quiet forest
as husband and wife. Entrenched in worldly ways, he lost all the inner serenity
and bliss that he had gained through years of meditation.
However, Lady Wicked soon grew bored with forest life. She
missed the noise and the hustle and bustle of crowded city life, so she cooed
and coaxed until she got her way, and they moved to a nearby village. In the
beginning, the holy man supported her by selling buttermilk. Later on, the villagers
began to seek his advice on things big and small, for they soon realised that listening
to him brought good fortune. They started calling him ‘the Wise Buttermilk Man’,
and gave him a hut to stay.
One day, a gang of bandits attacked the village. They robbed
the villagers of all their valuables and kidnapped some of the villagers,
including Lady Wicked. When they got to their forest hideout, they proceeded to
split their booty. When they began dividing up the prisoners, the bandit chief
was attracted to Lady Wicked’s beauty, and took her for himself as a wife.
All the other prisoners were soon released. When they
returned to the village, the Wise Buttermilk Man asked what had happened to his
wife. They told him that she had been kept by the bandit chief as his wife.
“She will never be able to live without me. She will find a way to escape and
come back to me,” he thought. Thinking that the village area was an unlucky
place, the villagers decided to pack up and leave. But the Wise Buttermilk Man
remained in his hut, convinced that his wife would return.
Meanwhile, Lady Wicked was enjoying the thrill and excitement
of leading life as a bandit queen. However, she was worried that her husband
would come and take her back. “If he comes for me, I would lose all my
new-found luxuries. It would be safer for me if I got rid of him,” she thought.
“I know, I will send him a letter, pretending to be deeply in love with him.
Just as before, I will use my power of seduction to cause his downfall, but only
this time he will meet his death, and I will remain as the bandit queen,” she
laughed. When the Wise Buttermilk Man received the letter, he believed every
word his wife had written. Without a moment’s hesitation, he rushed to the
forest and to the gang’s hideout to save his wife. When he called out to her,
Lady Wicked sneaked out and whispered, “Oh my lord and master, I’m so happy to
see you. I can hardly wait to escape with you, but it is not a good time now.
Let us wait until nightfall.” She took him inside, fed him and hid him in a
closet.
When the chief returned that evening, he was drunk. “My lord
and chief, if you see my former husband now, what would you do?” asked Lady
Wicked. “I would beat him up and kick him from one side of the room to the
other!” he bragged, “Where is he now?”
“He is much closer than you think,” she murmured. “In fact,
he is right here in this closet!” He opened the door and dragged the Wise
Buttermilk Man out. He proceeded to beat him up and kick him around the room,
just as he had boasted. His poor victim did not cry out. He only muttered, “Ungrateful
brute, lying traitor.”
That was all he said. It seemed the truth was finally dawning
on him, and he had learnt his lesson. But, oh what a high price he had to pay! After
some time, the drunken bandit got tired of beating him. He tied him up, ate dinner,
and passed out in a drunken stupor. The next morning, the bandit chief started
yet another round of beating and kicking his poor victim when he woke up sober.
Still, the Wise Buttermilk Man did not cry out. He simply muttered, “Ungrateful
brute, lying traitor.”
“Why does he repeat the same statement over and over again
when I hit him?” wondered the bandit. Seeing that his wife was still fast
asleep, he asked him what he meant. The Wise Buttermilk Man replied, “Listen
and I will tell you. I was once a forest holy man who enjoyed a high state of
inner peace and happiness, until I heard this woman crying for help one night
as she was being swept down the river in a storm. I saved her life and nursed
her back to health. Meanwhile, she seduced me and I lost all my inner repose.
We got married, went to live in a village and led a very ordinary life.
Then you kidnapped her. She sent me a letter saying that she
suffered while living with you, and begged me to rescue her. So you see — she
plotted to send me to my doom and put me at your mercy. That is why I say — ‘Ungrateful
brute, lying traitor’.”
The bandit chief was not stupid. He thought, “This man was
such a good provider, and yet she landed him in this plight. What would she be
capable of doing to me? It would be better to finish her off!” “Don’t worry,
I’ll look after you,” comforted the bandit king as he loosened the ropes on the
Wise Buttermilk Man. Then, he woke Lady Wicked up and said, “My darling, let us
kill this man right next to his own village.”
He took them to the boundary of the deserted village, and
instructed Lady Wicked to hold her former husband. He raised his mighty sword
and brought it down, but at the last instant, he sliced Lady Wicked into half! Then,
he nursed his former rival back to health. “What are you going to do now?” asked
the bandit chief after the Wise Buttermilk Man had recovered.
“I’m returning to my life as a forest monk,” replied the wise
man.
Even someone as cruel as the bandit chief could change his
ways for he said, “I wish to follow you, wise one, and learn meditation from
you in the forest.”
After giving up all his stolen goods, he went and lived in
the forest with the Wise Buttermilk Man as his teacher. After much effort, they
both attained high states of inner happiness and peace.
The moral is ✏ seduction can be
dangerous to both men and women.
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