Blessing In Disguise
Cherry was the only daughter of Kevin and Mony. The girl seemed to have butterfingers. Whatever she picked up would fall down and break into pieces. If she had a piece of cloth in her hands, sure as anything, it would have a tear somewhere. When she was hardly three years, she once was found clutching at her mother's costly silk dress. However much they all tried, she would not let go of the dress. As they did not want to beat her, they cut the dress where the girl held it with a pair of scissors and later stitched on the piece left in her hand. Mony was in tears. It was one of her favourite dresses. Kevin tried to pacify his wife. "After all, Cherry did not tear it herself. We should have waited till she let go of the dress. We were impatient and so cut it with scissors." Not long after the incident, a lovely Chinese jar in their possession was found broken. It was Cherry's mischief, no doubt. This became a very frequent affair, and invariably every month some article or another suffered damage at the hands of Cherry. When their friends came in, they found Kevin and Mony glum and they argued. "This is only natural, especially if there are little children around. They are not doing it deliberately. It is just that they are careless. But you should not punish them or scold them. And there's no point in weeping over anything irredeemable." However, some other friends would only be angry with the girl. "Is this a little girl? She looks innocent, but she is really an incarnation of the goddess of destruction! Can't she be a little careful when she picks up things? Cherry needs some disciplining!"
Now Kevin was a worried man. He wondered whether his daughter had come under the spell of some evil spirits. He decided to consult Mayan the sorcerer in the neighbouring town and get his help in exorcising the spirit out of Cherry. In another town, there lived Bankura. He was a cheat. He had managed to learn some magic and wizardry and made use of his knowledge to cheat people of their valuables. He would prepare in clay a human figure and visit the shop of a jeweller. With his magic, he would hoodwink the shopkeeper and remove precious stones from his tray and push them into the clay figure. Soon the clay would harden and the jeweller would be left wondering where the precious stones had disappeared. Bankura, of course, would have put out an innocent face! Later, he would break the figure and pull out the precious stones. Kevin went and met Mayan. He described to him Cherry's mischiefs. The sorcerer was of the opinion that the little girl was under the influence of some evil spirit. He agreed to go with Kevin to his town and exorcise the spirit onto his magic wand. On reaching Kevin's house, the girl was brought before Mayan who questioned her about her mischief and examined her hands, particularly the fingers.
"I think, I shall perform a ritual to exorcise the evil spirit," said Mayan. "For that, I'll need a few items." He then prepared a list and asked Kevin to fetch them. Without anyone noticing it, Cherry picked up the magic wand in Mayan's bag and broke it into two! The sorcerer was angry and upset. "Ah! Ha!" he cried out. "I can't do any magic without my wand! If I remain for a moment more, I don't know what other mischief this little girl would not do!" He then ran away from the place, cursing Cherry till he turned the corner. Her parents were full of remorse for what their daughter had done to Mayan, who might have cured her of the tendency to do mischief. They wondered what was in store for Cherry when she grew up if no curb was put on her misdeeds. Soon, word spread out about Cherry and people were afraid to call on Kevin and Mony or to invite them over to their place. Meanwhile, Bankura the cheat found his way to Kevin's town and searched for the shop of the most prominent jeweller of the place. He posed as if he was a rich trader keen on buying precious stones. At one stage he thought he was alone in front of the counter. He picked up a glittering diamond from the tray and pushed it into the clay figure he was holding in his hand. An assistant in the shop was actually watching him from a distance and he went and reported the matter to his master. The jeweller rushed back to where Bankura was sitting and grabbed the clay figure from his hand. "You thief!" he shouted at him. "You've hidden a diamond in this figure, haven't you?" Bankura stoutly denied the allegation. "I have done nothing like that! I haven't stolen your diamond, nor have I hidden it in this figure!" "You're lying, hey mister!" the jeweller shouted at him. "My assistant was watching you and he saw you removing the diamond from the tray." He then beckoned the assistant. "Yes, Master! I saw him take the diamond and push it into the figure," said the assistant with confidence.
The jeweller turned to Bankura. "Do you know how much that diamond costs? five million! I won't let you off that easily. First, let me break this clay figure and find out whether the diamond has been hidden in it!" By then a crowd had gathered in front of the shop. Now Bankura knew that he could not escape. However, he put on some bravado and challenged them. "All right, you may break open the figure and find out whether there's any diamond hidden in it. But I tell you, you won't be able to break the figure. It is not made of clay. It is an alloy and is not breakable!" Someone in the crowd came forward. "Sir, this is only clay! See the colour! He's only hoodwinking us with his gibbering. You don't believe him. Break open the figure!" However, neither the jeweller, nor his assistant, or anyone in the crowd could break the figure. The man said, "I think he has done some magic to the figure. That's why it's so hard! Anyway, if we can believe your assistant, then you should not return the figure to him. See that he doesn't run away with it." By now, another person in the crowd came forward and whispered to the jeweller. "There's one person in this town who'll be able to break the figure! Cherry! Daughter of Kevin and Mony." He then narrated all that had happened to Mayan and his magic wand. "There's no doubt that this figure does have the diamond hidden somewhere inside," said the jeweller.
"And whoever is able to break the figure will receive an award of one million! I wonder who else this man has cheated at other places!" Bankura was in no mood to give up. "That figure is an heirloom. Nobody can break it. If anyone manages to break it, and if there's no diamond inside, then you'll have to pay me a compensation of ten million!" he warned the jeweller. "Sure! You need not have any doubt about it!" retorted the jeweller. "I am certain of retrieving my diamond and I shall see that you're put behind bars." He turned to the man from the crowd. "Come on, let's go to Cherry's house. Whoever wants to go with us, let them come. You! Please get up and come with us!" he told Bankura. They all trooped to Cherry's house. They found her sitting on the porch. When she saw the crowd, she called out to their parents, who now came out. The jeweller introduced himself and told them of the whole incident. "Cherry, take the figure from him," said Kevin. The jeweller handed the figure to the girl, who was now a young maiden. She turned the figure in her hand and threw it on the floor with some force. It broke into several pieces and out came the diamond. It lay glittering in one corner of the porch. When he saw that the crowd was busy looking at the broken pieces and the diamond in the jeweller's palm, Bankura slowly moved backwards in a bid to escape. But the jeweller noticed him sneaking out and shouted, "Catch him! Don't allow him to run away." The people around him caught hold of his hands and held him tight. "Next we shall take him to the authorities and have him put in prison!" said the jeweller. They will make him confess to his crimes and probably recover all that he might have stolen from various people. The cheat deserves the maximum punishment." Before they all moved out with Bankura, the jeweller profusely thanked Cherry who was now beaming in front of her parents.
"People had taken your daughter to be a mischievous girl," remarked the jeweller. "Far from it! I had promised a reward of one million to whoever who could break the clay figure. But now I propose to marry her and I seek your daughter's hand!" Cherry and Mony looked at each other. "Yes, we too had thought that she was a mischievous girl and was beyond correction," said Kevin. "My wife and I were worried about how we would find a suitable groom for our daughter. Now your offer of marriage has come. What do you say about the proposal, Cherry?" asked Kevin. She nodded in approval and everyone was happy. The jeweller's immediate problem was to hand over Bankura to the authorities which he did with the help of the people who had accompanied him. He then got busy with preparations for his wedding with Cherry!
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