In this episode, we’ll do a story of Vikram and Betaal!
We’ll meet three extraordinary girls who could have been excellent insurance adjusters.
We’ve done four Vikram and Betaal episodes before. But you don’t need to have heard any of them before because these stories are all standalone. There’s a framing narrative around all of the Vikram and Betaal stories which you will find in Episode 5 – Kingly Duties. Other episodes are linked in the show notes. If you haven’t heard the previous Vikram and Betaal Episodes – that’s perfectly okay. I’ll give you a summary
Vikramaditya or Vik was a wise king. Once a Rishi or a wise man began giving him a daily gift – a precious gem disguised as a fruit.
To repay him for the gifts, the king agreed to the Rishi’s request of fetching him a Betaal from the crematorium. A Betaal in case you don’t know is a reanimated corpse or a Revenant. In some translations, it has been approximated to a Vampire.
The Betaal mostly loved hanging down from a tree, like a bat. He did not want to be captured. Nevertheless, the King managed to capture him pretty easily. The Betaal told the King a story, which was actually a lateral thinking puzzle. The King couldn’t resist answering the Betaal, but when he did, the Betaal escaped back to the tree. This happened about 25 times. We’ve covered 4 such stories. Today we’ll cover another one.
We’re back to the crematorium again with Vik walking towards the Rishi again with the captured Betaal on his back, again.
The Betaal began his story again! And again, with the premise that it was a long walk and Vik looked upset. Maybe a story would lighten the mood.
Climbing the tree again for the fifth time that night after a hard day’s work was not what Vik had in mind. But he didn’t object. Speaking would allow the Betaal to escape again.
He shook his head, but the Betaal ignored him and began his story.
Once upon a time, said the Betaal, there was a King in a faraway land.
“Why does every one of his stories involve a King?” wondered Vik but did not say.
Amongst his subjects was an old man, Musafir, who had three daughters.
The old man wanted to go on a pilgrimage. But there were logistical challenges. And to solve those, he sought an audience with the King.
“Namaste, your majesty,” said Musafir greeting the King. “I’m the winner of the Kingdom’s weekly poem contest. Your officers promised me an all-expenses-paid pilgrimage. But they don’t want to pay for my daughters”
“Quite right. You won the contest. Not your daughters”
“But sir, I can’t leave them behind. Who will take care of them?”
“Cant they take care of themselves? They look old enough to me.”
“Sir they are all blind. I can’t leave them alone.”
“Hmm, I see. They could live with the Queen’s maids until you return. Is that acceptable?”
Musafir agreed readily, and the girls nodded.
“In that case, I command them to live with the Queen’s maids until you return. And I command you to go on your pilgrimage. And I command you all to have fun”
“Thank you, your majesty!” said Musafir. “I have a suggestion. My daughters might be of use to you. They each have a skill. A special sense. Special powers of perception.”
Indeed, they did. The sisters were standing next to each other nudging each other and whispering to each other. Let’s call them Pehli, Doosri, and Teesri.
Pehli nudged her sister on the right – “Doosri, I don’t like that awful pigsty smell”
“Ssh” replied her sister on the right “I don’t like it either. But it’s from the King himself. We have to tolerate him. Maybe the Queen won’t smell as much. And don’t call me Doosri, I’m Teesri. So much for your perception”
“Clearly not very special if it doesn’t help them take care of themselves in your absence. Off with you now” said the King.
Musafir left on his journey.
Pehli, Doosri, and Teesri settled in the Queen’s maids’ quarters.
Things were fine for a while. And then one day a horse trader came in asking to sell his finest horse to the King. The King saw the horse and was immediately tempted to buy it for what he thought was an unbelievably once-in-a-lifetime low price of just Rs 999.99. It seemed like an offer too good to be true.
Just as the horse trader was preparing the transfer of ownership paperwork, the King happened to notice Pehli passing by. He summoned her, remembering what Musafir had said.
“Hi Paheli, I’m planning to buy this horse here. What do you think?”
People in court shook their heads thinking the King had gone crazy asking a blind girl for her opinion of a horse. But they were about to be surprised.
“How much are you being paid to keep him?”
“Umm, that’s not how a purchase works. Let me explain, when party A wishes to relinquish ownership of Goods, Cattle, Real Estate, or Securities, they find party B who wishes to attain ownership of said Goods, Cattle, Real Estate, or Securities in exchange for fiat money”.
“Sir, with all due respect I understand what a purchase is. What I’m getting at is that this horse is a white elephant”.
“No, I definitely see a gray horse”
“Sir, I did not mean that literally. I mean the horse is not an asset. It’s a liability. You’d go crazy feeding him and changing his shoes. But you’ll get nothing out of him. And this ‘horse trader’ of yours knows it. He smells of guilt. And I said horse trader in a sarcastic way, in case you didn’t catch that”
At this, the horse trader broke down! He fell to his feet and begged for mercy. He was a rich guy who’d become a poor guy having spent all of his money on maintaining this horse.
At last, he couldn’t stand it anymore and decided to get some money out of him by bringing him to a neighboring kingdom. This Kingdom in fact to try and sell him here.
The King was impressed with Paheli. She rushed back to Doosri and Teesri and told them the whole story. Again, she complained about the odor of pigs from the King.
A few days later a very similar thing happened with Doosri. This time it was a chariot salesman who was trying to pass off a used chariot with lots of miles on it as a classic. Doosri could pretty much sense the chariot’s driving history and all the accidents that it had been in and the hasty coverup jobs the owner had put it through.
She too returned with thanks from the King. But she too complained to her sisters about the strong smell of pigs.
As you can guess the same thing happened to Teesri as well. But this time with weapons. They were terrible weapons that just didn’t work. Bows that wouldn’t shoot arrows and swords that couldn’t cut paper.
You’d think by now the King would have learned a lesson from his experiences with the horse and with the Chariot. But he hadn’t. He needed the girls to tell him every time.
But he was not ungenerous. He ordered a bunch of gifts for the girls when Musafir finally returned and was ready to take them home.
The girls strangely looked like they might throw up. Almost as they were smelling a pigsty which was impossible because this was the throne room.
Before they could leave, however, the King asked Musafir a question.
“They’re all your girls and they have this sixth sense. They must have gotten it from you”
“Sir, that completely ignores the possibility that my wife was the one….”
“Of course, of course. Now if your wife had the powers this story will end quietly with you going home and leading your life. But we’re in a Vikram and Betaal story so there is a plot twist coming up I can feel it.
Is that the plot twist? That you have such powers too”
“Your logic is unimpeachable sir. I do have that power” replied Musafir.
“Then tell me about me. I command it” said the King.
Pehli, Doosri, and Teesri shook their heads vigorously at Musafir but he said the truth.
“Your majesty was born in a pigsty. Your father was actually the keeper of the pigs, not the previous King”
The King flew into a rage and had Musafir executed.
“That’s the end of the story,” said the Betaal.
“Tell me Vik, whose action was justified? The King executing Musafir or Musafir speaking the truth?”
“That’s a trick question” replied Vikram. “You’re presenting those two options. But neither did the right thing. The King was wrong to execute Musafir. It’s an overreaction. A day or two in prison would have taught him a lesson.
Musafir was wrong even though he spoke the truth. He should have chosen his words carefully. I’m sure he got carried away by his daughters’ successes and thought he might be rewarded as well for showing off his powers.
He really should have learned from his daughters. They had figured out the King’s secret, but they could hide it from him for weeks. Musafir couldn’t manage to keep it secret for a few minutes.”
“You’re absolutely right Vikram,” said the Betaal. “And because you have been speaking, I’m going to now leave. See you back on the tree!”
The Betaal flew off. Vikram obviously followed him, and captured him again and heard other stories. But those are for future episodes.
That’s all for now
Some notes on the show
The names of the characters are linked to their characters. Musafir means wanderer. Pehli, Doosri, and Teesri are the Hindi words for First, Second, and Third.
Past Vikram and Betaal episodes:
Episode 5 – Kingly duties
Episode 8 – Vik and the Vampire Redux
Episode 32 – The Call of Duty
Episode 34 – A Damsel in Distress
That’s all for now.
A Big Milestone!
With the next episode, we’ll have completed one whole year! It’s been an incredible journey and I want to thank you very much for your support. Your feedback has helped in making this show a success!
Next Time
In the next episode, we’ll talk about a folk tale from Bengal! It’s about a boy with the Moon on his forehead! Yeah!
I’ll see you next time!