From the Folklore of Kashmir
Once upon a time a young man left his home and country, and went to a wild place to meditate on religious subjects. He spent twelve years thus, during which he neither ate nor drank. When he thought he had perfected himself in religious matters and had discovered the end of things, he conceived a desire to visit a city about five miles distant. On the way he sat down under a tree to rest, and while he rested a crow came and perched on a branch just above him and let fall some lime on his head. He was very much annoyed at this, and turned towards the bird; and the bird died. When he had sufficiently rested, the holy man resumed his journey, and reached the city, where he entered the courtyard of a certain house and begged for some food.
A woman called to him from a window and bade him to come in and wait till her husband arrived, when she promised to give him something to eat. The holy man was very angry at this reply, and was going to curse her, when she interrupted him by saying, “I am not a crow, that you can burn me with your angry looks. You had better come in and wait for my husband’s return.” The man did so, but he wondered how ever the woman had got to know of the crow incident.
In a little while the master of the house appeared; whereupon the woman brought some warm water and washed his feet, and after that some food and gave him to eat. Then she placed some food before their guest and gave him also to eat. When he had eaten as much as he wished, she ate her own dinner. Afterwards she prepared her husband’s bed, and while he was reclining on it she shampooed his feet. Truly, she was a pattern wife! So thought the holy man, who observed everything, but said nothing.
“Tell us a tale,” she said to her husband, while shampooing his feet; to which the man agreed, and began as follows:
“In days gone by there lived a Brahman, who for many years was praying to know something of the state of the departed. At last the gods complied with his request. Early one morning, while bathing according to custom, his spirit left him, and went into the body of an infant, the child of a cobbler. The child grew up, learnt his father’s business, married, and became the father of a numerous family, when suddenly he was made aware of his high caste, and abandoning all went to another country. Now just as he reached that country the king died, and as there was no person to put upon the throne, the wazirs and others in authority had to resort to the popular custom of sending an elephant and a hawk round the place to elect a successor for them. Whomsoever the elephant and hawk acknowledged, the people also acknowledged. There was no alternative. Well, wonderful to relate, the stranger was chosen for this high office. The elephant bowed down before him, and the hawk perched on his right hand, and thus proclaimed him king in the presence of all the people. In the course of a few years his wife got to know of his whereabouts and went to join him. Then it somehow became known that he was a cobbler, and that his wife, also, was of that low caste. The people were in great consternation about it. Some fled, some subjected themselves to great penance, and others burnt themselves, lest they should be excommunicated. The king, too, burnt himself, when he heard what was happening, and his spirit went and reoccupied the corpse of the Brahman, that remained by the river-side, and went home. ‘How quickly you have performed you ablutions this morning!’ said his wife; but the Brahman answered nothing. He only looked very much surprised. ‘Can this by the future state?’ though he. ‘Have I really seen it? Or was it only a dream?’
“About a week after this a man came into the Brahman’s courtyard, and begged for some bread, saying that he had not eaten anything for five days, during which he had been running away from his country as fast as he could, because a cobbler had been appointed to the throne. All the people, he said, were running away or burning themselves to escape the consequences of such an evil. The Brahman gave the man some food, but said nothing. ‘How can these things be?’ thought he. ‘I have been a cobbler for several years. I have reigned as a king for several years, – and this man confirms the truth of my thoughts; yet my wife declares that I have not been absent from this house more than the usual time; and I believe her, for she does not look any older, nor is the place changed in any way.’
“Thus ends my story,” said the Brahman’s host, “whereof the explanation is this: The soul passes through various stages of existence according to a man’s thoughts, words, and acts, and in the great Hereafter a day is equal to an age of the world and an age of the world is equal to a day.”
On the conclusion of the story, the woman, wishing to sleep, turned to the stranger and inquired if he wanted anything more. He replied, “Only happiness.”
“Then go and seek it in your own home,” she said. “Go return tom your parents who have wept themselves blind because of you. Go and put your hands on their eyes, and tell them that their son has returned; and they will see again. Then shall you be happy. Happiness is to be sought for in the path of duty – in obedience to those whom the gods have set over us. It is the duty of a wife to seek the pleasure of her husband. It is the duty of a child to seek the pleasure of his parents. It is the duty of a citizen to seek the pleasure of his king. It is the duty of us all to seek the pleasure of the gods.”
Sources:
Folk-Tales of Kashmir, J Hinton Knowles, 1893
Kotharian Lightning 