In Search Of A Throne
Sean of Malwa was an exceedingly handsome lad, but he was utterly poor. He spent all his boyhood in a far town getting educated. When his education was finished he started for his home country. He made the long journey on foot and in course of time reached a town called Puran. By the time he entered the town, it was already dark. Sean did not like the idea of going from house to house begging for food and shelter. He went straight to the king's palace, and told the king, "Sire, I am a foreigner and a guest. Give me food and shelter tonight. I shall be on my way tomorrow. The King of Puran was very much pleased with the handsome boy with the bold talk and agreed to play host to him. When the boy went to have a refreshing bath, the queen said to the king, "I feel this boy is no ordinary lad. He must be a prince in disguise. Do find out who he is. He will make an excellent husband for our daughter." "If he is really a prince in disguise," said the king, "he will not reveal himself even if we ask him. His secret must be discovered without his knowledge. Let me consult our minister." "That can be easily ascertained," said the minister to the king. "I can find out whether he is a prince or a common person. But not in one night. I want time. Keep him here for a couple of days."
So, at dinner, the king turned to his young guest and said, "I am afraid you cannot go away tomorrow, my boy. My daughter's birthday falls tomorrow and you must stay for the celebration. You can go later." Meanwhile, the minister arranged a hard bed for Sean in a room. He called a night watchman and said to him, "keep an eye on the guest. You must report to me in the morning whether he has slept well." After dinner, Sean was shown into his bedroom. He closed the door, sat on the bed, and removed his shirt in order to lie down and go to sleep. As he lifted the shirt several green peas dropped down from its pockets and got scattered all over the bed and the floor. It happened this way. Being a poor boy Sean was always careful about his needs. That morning he saw lots of peas while passing by the field. He plucked a lot of pods, took out the green peas, and filled both of his pockets with them. It was not unusual for him to sustain himself on such a diet when he could not find food. Now, these wretched peas were all over the place and created a problem. The king had been very well disposed to him, and the servants should not find these peas tomorrow. Otherwise, the king would come to know about it and treat him with less respect. So, Sean began to collect every single pea on the bed. Then he lifted the bedsheet and shook it. Having cleared the bed he proceeded to crawl about on the floor and collected all the peas that fell there.
It was past midnight by the time Sean collected all the peas. He did not know what to do with them. Though he was already full with the king's food, Sean proceeded to eat the peas slowly, one by one. Three-quarters of the night was gone by the time he went to sleep. "How did our guest sleep last night?" the minister asked the night watchman the next morning. "Sir," said the watchman, "the young gentleman did not have a wink of sleep. I heard him shaking the bedsheets and prowling in the room until the early morning." The minister was satisfied. He went to the king and said to him, "Sir, this boy is no common person. I shall not be surprised if he is the son of a monarch." What the minister said was confirmed when the king and queen found that Sean hardly ate a morsel of the rich fare that was placed before him. They did not know that the peas had spoiled his appetite.
The next night the minister arranged a fine feather bed, and Sean, who was ready to sleep even on a bare rock, slept like a log in the soft and cozy feather bed. "There is no longer any occasion for the lease doubt," said the minister to the king and queen. "My only fear is that the young prince may not care to marry our princess!" "Nonsense," said the queen. "Pretending to be a commoner he dare not refuse our daughter. In any case, find out his opinion." The minister took princess Indu to Sean and suggested that he should marry her. At first, Sean was overcome with surprise but later he consented to marry the princess. The king and queen were very happy. Soon princess Indu was married to the destitute Sean. For a whole year, Sean enjoyed a life which he could not have dreamt of. Then his troubles started. One day Indu said to her husband, "How long are we to remain here? Let us go to your kingdom." "Our Kingdom?" Sean repeated in amazement. "Yes," she replied. "You need not pretend anymore. Even before we were married I knew that you were a prince." She told him about the tests devised by the minister in order to make sure that he was a prince. When he heard this Sean was amazed. But now it was up to him to show her a kingdom or to confess the truth. Sean loved his wife too well to hurt her by blurting out the truth.
He would start out with her and keep wandering until the truth dawned on her. One find morning Indu and Sean took leave of the king and queen of Puran and started upon their aimless travel. Weeks and months passed. The young couple moved from one village to another and from one country to another. Indu was certain that she was going to her husband's place but she did not know where it was and what it was. She bore the hardships of the travel without complaining. She never once asked her husband, "Where are we going?" Several times Sean had a great urge to leave his sleeping wife, and go away in order to put an end to this problem. But from day to day the love for his uncomplaining wife was growing, and he did not have the heart to desert her. At the end of six months, they arrived in the city of Cairo. There Sean sold one of his wife's ornaments and they lodged with a poor woman. The poor woman looked at the couple with some surprise. For, in spite of the hardships of the journey, Indu still looked like a princess. But the boy intrigued the old woman. Some fifteen years back the prince of Cairo was kidnapped by the robbers. The old woman thought that the boy would be the same age as Sean if he was still alive. She suspected that this boy was the kidnapped prince.
To make sure, the old woman took Indu aside and asked her, "Who are you, my dear? And what is your husband?" "I am princess Indu of Puran. My husband is a prince in disguise," said the girl. "Which place is he the prince of?" the old woman asked again. "I don't know. But we are going there," Indu replied. The old woman's suspicion was confirmed. She went to see the king and told him, "Your Majesty! a boy is lodging in my house with his wife. I have a feeling that he may be our prince whom the robbers kidnapped several years ago." "Can you bring the couple here once?" the king asked the old woman. That evening the old woman took Sean and Indu to the palace. Both the king and queen of Cairo were overcome with joy when they saw Sean. The king thought there was a strong resemblance between his wife and the boy while the queen said her husband looked exactly like the boy at the time of her marriage. "God has given us back our son," they said. Sean agreed to be their son and stay with them. Soon after, Sean was crowned as the future king of Cairo. When this news reached Puran the minister said, "Didn't I tell you so? How lucky we are to have the Prince of Cairo for a son-in-law!"
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