A Dream At Midnight
"Never speak a word unless necessary and never act in anger!" said the village chief to his young companion. Both were on their way to the town and the chief was very fond of giving advice to others. They halted at an inn. It was evening and they decided to spend their night there. The ass which carried the chief's luggage was tied to a pole in front of the inn and the two booked a room for them. The young man observed two persons of doubtful appearance lying on the verandah in front of their room. They were peeping into the room again and again. The young man observed that their eyes were always focused on the chief's luggage. After partaking of their dinner the chief and the young man went to sleep. At the midnight the chief awakened the young man and said, "Listen to me. I dreamt a very valuable dream!"
The young man sat up and squeezed his sleepy eyes and blinked at him. "Do you remember that palm tree beside the inn? I dreamt that in a pit near it lies a bagful of gold. Do you know what I propose to do?" asked the chief. "No Sir!" "Then you are a fool. I must pick up that bag and carry it away. It is a moonlit night. We must do the needful before daybreak. Now, go to sleep," said the chief. The chief fell asleep once again, but not the young man. Looking through the window, he had seen the two fellows listening to the chief's midnight announcement. After half an hour the young man saw the two strangers getting up and advancing towards the palm tree. He too went out of his room and followed them, hiding behind a fence. The two found the bag. Then one said to the other, "How do we divide it?" "It is not safe to tarry here even for a moment. That stupid dreamer may come here at any moment! Let me carry it on the horseback to the inn on the other side of the town. You come walking and meet me there. Then we can divide it equally between us," proposed the other.
"Better I carry the bag and ride to the inn. You come walking," said the first one. "No, You may be possessed by Satan and deceive me!" said the second one in a stern voice. "Can't I say the same thing for you? You too may be possessed by Satan!" grumbled the first fellow. It seems the second one was already possessed by Satan. He drove his dagger into the other man's chest and threw him into the pit from which they had got the bag. He then rode away. The young man saw all this. Fear almost crippled him. He managed to return to his room after a while. The village chief woke up just before dawn. By that time the young man had fallen asleep. "Get up, you good for nothing idler!" he shouted at the young man, giving him a blow. The young man sat up. "Follow me," ordered the chief. The young man had no time to tell him that visiting the pit was of no use. The chief untied his ass and drove it towards the pit. He was absolutely sure of getting the wealth of which he had dreamt. All that was necessary was to put it on the ass's back. The ass suddenly stopped. The pit was still yards away. The chief got annoyed and gave his beast a push. But it won't move. The young man tried to tell him that the ass has smelt a dead body and that is the reason why it was unwilling to go farther. But the moment the young man opened his mouth, the chief commanded him to shut up! The ass won't move however he tried. Mad with anger the chief suddenly drove his dagger into its flank. It lay dead.
Then the chief jumped into the pit. Imagine his shock when he found there a corpse instead of gold. He shrieked and jumped out and clasped the young man. "Master, you never let me tell you what happened," said the young man and he narrated the episode to him. "Why did you not wake me up when you saw them, picking up the bag? The bag was to be mine since I dreamt of it," said the chief. "Sir, that would have resulted in your death, for they were bandits, or in a scuffle which would have attracted others in the inn," calmly explained the young man. Just then they saw three policemen coming towards the inn, dragging the fourth man along. It was already morning. They could recognize the fellow. He was the murderer of his companion. "This fellow was riding with this bag. When he saw us, he tried to turn his horse. The horse stumbled against a rock and threw this fellow off its back. This fellow was trying to escape. But we captured him. Let us examine what this bag contains!" said the policemen. They opened the bag.
The village chief and the young man too looked into it with great curiosity. The innkeeper had also joined them. It contained some ordinary stones. "Good God! Why should this fellow try to hide this from anybody? This bag had been left on our verandah by a lunatic and I had thrown it into the pit!" said the surprised innkeeper. "What! Only Stones? No gold? And I killed..." the bandit stopped when he became conscious that what he was going to say could be dangerous for himself. "Whom did you kill?" asked the policemen. The bandit said nothing, but by then the inn keeper's servant had found out the corpse of the bandit and that of the ass. The police instantly bound the man they had captured with a strong rope. They were of course not bothered about the killer of the ass. The village chief did not speak for a long time. Then he told the young man, "You did well by not calling me at night. You seem to be wise." "No, master, I'm not wise, I only follow the advice you give me from time to time," humbly said the young man. The chief understood how foolish he had been himself. He advised others against speaking unnecessarily, yet he spoke himself at midnight quite unnecessarily. He advised others not to act rashly, but he acted rashly himself and lost his ass! Only if he practiced what he preached.
For Audio Story Check Below:
Comments
Post a Comment