The Man who changed into a Woman at Will. Was his wife his
or the other man's?
So the king went back as before under the
sissoo tree, put the Betal on his shoulder, and started toward the monk. And
as he walked along, the Betal told the king a story.
There was a city called Shivapur in Nepal
In course of time a daughter named
Shashiprabha was born to them, pleasing as the moonlight to the eyes of men.
When she grew up, she went one day in spring with her servants to a festival in
the garden.
There she was seen by a Brahman youth
named Manahswami, the son of Adhya, who had come there to the festival. When he
saw her plucking flowers with one arm uplifted, he went mad with love. His
heart was taken captive by the gay maiden, and he was no longer master of his
mind.
He thought: "Is she the goddess of
love, plucking the spring flowers in person? Or is she a forest goddess, come
here to worship the spring-time?"
Then the princess saw him, like a new god
of love incarnate. The moment her eyes fell on him, she fell in love,
forgetting her flowers and even her own limbs. While they looked at each other,
lost in love like people in a picture, a great wail of anguish arose. They
lifted their heads to learn what the matter was, and just then an elephant that
had broken his chain, maddened by the scent of another mad elephant, came by,
crushing the people in his path. He had thrown off his driver and the ankus
hung from him as he ran. And everyone fled in terror.
But the youth Manahswami ran up in a hurry
and took the princess in his arms. And with a mixture of fear and love and
modesty she half embraced him as he carried her far out of the elephant's path.
Then her people gradually gathered, and she went to the palace, looking at the
youth, and burning over the flame of love.
And the youth went home from the garden,
and thought: "I cannot live, I cannot exist a moment without her. I must
seek help from my teacher Mooladeva, who is a thorough rogue." And so the
day slowly passed.
The next morning he went to his teacher
Mooladeva, and found him with his constant friend Chandranath. He drew near,
bowed, and told his desire. And the teacher laughed and promised to help him.
So that wonderful rogue put a magic pill
in his mouth, and thus changed himself into an old Brahman. He put a second
pill into Manahswami’s mouth, which changed him into a lovely girl. Then that
prince of rogues took him to the king and said: "O King, this maiden has
come a long distance to marry my only son. But my son has gone away, and I am
going to look for him. Please keep the girl. For you are a protector to be
trusted while I am looking for my son."
The king was afraid of a curse, so he
promised to do it. And summoning his daughter, he said: "Daughter, keep
this maiden in your chamber, and let her live with you." So the girl took
the Brahman youth Manahswami in his girl form to her own apartments.
When Mooladeva had gone away, Manahswami
in his girl form lived with his beloved, and in a few days came to know her in
an intimate and loving way, as girl friends do. Then when he saw that she was
pining away and tossing on her couch, he asked the princess one evening:
"My dear girl, why do you grow pale and thin day by day, grieving as if
separated from your love? Tell me. Why not trust a loving, innocent girl like
me? If you will not tell me, I shall starve myself."
And the princess trusted him and said
after a little hesitation: "My dear girl, why should I not trust you?
Listen. I will tell you. One day I went to the spring festival in the garden.
There I saw a handsome Brahman youth, fair as the moon but not so cold, the
sight of whom kindled my love. For he adorned the garden as the spring-time
does. While my eager eyes were feasting on his face, a great mad elephant that
had broken his chain came charging and thundering past like a black cloud in
the dry season. My servants scattered in terror, and I was helpless. But the
Brahman youth took me in his arms and carried me far away. I seemed to be in a
sandal bath, in a stream of nectar. I cannot tell how I felt as I touched him.
Presently my servants gathered around, and I was brought here helpless. I felt
as if I had fallen from heaven to earth. From that day I see in my thoughts my
dear preserver beside me. I embrace him in my dreams. What need of more words?
I wear away the time, thinking constantly of him and only him. The fire of
separation from the lord of my life devours me day and night."
When Manahswami heard these welcome words,
he rejoiced and counted himself happy. And thinking the time to reveal himself
had come, he took the pill from his mouth, and disclosed his natural form. And
he said: "Beautiful maiden, I am he whom you bought and enslaved with a
kindly glance in the garden. I was sick at the separation from you; so I took
the form of a girl, and came here. So now bring heaven in a loving glance to my
love-tortured heart."
When the princess saw that the lord of her
life was beside her, she was torn between love and wonder and modesty, and did
not know what she ought to do. So they were secretly married and lived there in
supreme happiness. Manahswami lived in a double form. By day he was a girl with
the pill in his mouth, by night a man without the pill.
After a time the brother-in-law of King Yashaketu
gave his daughter with great pomp to a Brahman, the son of the counsellor PrajnaSagara,
the princess Shashiprabha was invited to her cousin's wedding and went to her
uncle's house. And Manahswami went with her in his girl form.
When the counsellor's son saw Manahswami in
his lovely girl form, he was terribly smitten with the arrows of love. His
heart was stolen by the sham girl, and he went home feeling lonely even with
his wife. It made him crazy to think of that lovely face. When his father tried
to soothe him, he woke from his madness and stammered out his insane desire.
And his father was terribly distressed, knowing that all this depended on
another.
Then the king learned the story and came
there. When the king saw his condition and perceived that he was seven parts
gone in love, he said: "How can I give him the girl who was intrusted to
me by the Brahman? Yet without her he will be ten parts gone in love, and will
die. And if he dies, then his father, the counsellor, will die too. And if the
counsellor perishes, my kingdom will perish. What shall I do?"
He consulted his counsellors, and they
said: "Your Majesty, the first duty of a king is the preservation of the
virtue of his people. This is the fundamental principle, and is established as
such among counsellors. If the counsellor is lost, the fundamental principle is
lost; how then can virtue be preserved? So in this case it would be sinful to
destroy the counsellor through his son. You must by all means avoid the loss of
virtue which would ensue. Give the Brahman's girl to the counsellor's son. And
when the Brahman returns, further measures will suggest themselves."
To this the king agreed, and promised to
give the sham girl to the counsellor's son. So Manahswami in his girl form was
brought from the chamber of the princess, and he said to the king: "Your
Majesty, I was brought here by somebody for a given purpose. If you give me to
somebody else, well and good. You are the king. Right and wrong depend on you.
I will marry him to-day, but only on one condition. My husband shall go away
immediately after the marriage and not return until he has been on a pilgrimage
for six months. Otherwise I shall bite out my tongue."
So the counsellor's son was summoned, and
he joyfully assented. He made the man his wife at once, put the sham wife in a
guarded room and started on a pilgrimage. So Manahswami lived there in his
woman form.
When he realized that the counsellor's son
would soon return, Manahswami fled by night. And Mooladeva heard the story, and
again assumed the form of an old Brahman. He took his friend Chandranath, went
to Yashaketu, and said respectfully: "Your Majesty, I have brought my son.
Pray give me my daughter-in-law."
The king was afraid of a curse, so he
said: "Brahman, I do not know where your daughter-in-law has gone. Be
merciful. To atone for my carelessness, I will give your son my own
daughter."
The prince of rogues in the form of an old
Brahman angrily refused. But the king finally persuaded him, and with all due
form married his daughter Shashiprabha to Chandranath, who pretended to be the
old Brahman's son. Then Mooladeva went home with the bride and bridegroom.
But then Manahswami came, and in the
presence of Mooladeva, a great dispute arose between him and Chandranath.
Manahswami said: " Shashiprabha should
be given to me. I married the girl first with my teacher's permission."
Chandranath said: "Fool! What rights
have you in my wife? Her father gave her to me in regular marriage."
So they disputed about the princess whom
one had won by fraud and the other by force. But they could reach no decision.
O King, tell me. Whose wife is she?
Resolve my doubts, and remember the agreement about your head.
Then the king said: "I think she is
the rightful wife of Chandranath. For she was married to him in the regular way
by her father in the presence of her relatives. Manahswami married her
secretly, like a thief. And when a thief takes things from other people, it is
never right."
When the Betal heard this, he went back
home as before. And the king stuck to his purpose. He went back again, put the
Betal on his shoulder, and started from the sissoo tree.
To be continued...
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