by C.V.Rajan

Created on: August 06, 2010   Last Updated: September 03, 2010

“It’s a shame; an insult to my kingdom!” the king was furious. All the messengers that the king had sent to the neighboring and distant countries have returned, having no happy response to offer to the king.

“ Why? Don’t these kings have chivalrous princes to be married off in their clan? Do they consider me not great enough to have alliance and get married to my daughter?” the king was shouting amidst  his ministers.

The senior minister was the only one to garner courage to speak out. “Well, your Excellency, the gravest mistake we did was to send the realistic painting of your daughter with the messengers in seeking an alliance for her”.  The king hated to hear this, though he was quite aware of that stark reality.  

The king sat brooding. The senior minister spoke again.

“Your Excellency. I think you can reconsider your stand on getting an alliance for the princess only from the ruling class. I believe there won’t be a dearth of chivalrous young men in our own country;  if, say, the reward is huge enough not to refuse…”

The king seemed to understand. “I can offer anything. But not to a person lacking chivalry”

-

The gathering was very huge. People were standing close to the brim of the swimming pool in the palace, eager to listen to the announcement. The king, queen and the princess were all seated in a high dais visible to all. The senior minister made the announcement:

“Any young man who jumps into the pool, swims across and reaches alive can marry the princess and rule half of the kingdom. But mind you, we have let loose several hundreds of poisonous snakes in the pool”.

After the initial excitement , there was a deafening silence. For ten long minutes no one seemed to dare. Suddenly a person was seen jumping into water and swimming across frivolously and there were shouts of excitement.

The king rose up to congratulate the chivalrous young man. But the youngster looked nonplussed. In a shaky voice he said “Your majesty. Forget about all the rewards. What I need is justice under your rule. I want you to identify and punish the person who pushed me into the pool!”.

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