The king and his two ministers

There was a king who had two ministers. One was named Bhola and the other one was Kala. According to the king’s subjects, Bhola was extremely bad and Kala was extremely good. Bhola had the reputation of being extremely tricky, cruel and undivine. He used to torture all and sundry. If someone applied for a job in the palace, he used to harass them and compel them to give him a large bribe. Kala was very, very honest, but Kala also used to receive very bad treatment from Bhola.

Because of Bhola’s misdeeds, one of Kala’s friends decided to punish Bhola. This friend was named Raghu. He spread a rumour that soon he was going to marry the king’s daughter. The king came to hear the rumour and he became furious. How could Raghu dare to make such a pronouncement? Raghu did not hold any important position in the court. As far as the king was concerned, Raghu was just a silly fellow.

The king asked Bhola what he should do. Bhola said, “What kind of audacity this Raghu has! He should be hanged!”

Then the king asked Kala for his advice. Kala said, “Raghu is a silly fellow, but he is harmless. Why pay any attention to this kind of thing?”

The king’s anger could not be appeased so easily. He felt it was beneath his dignity to have his daughter mentioned in connection with Raghu. So the king took Bhola’s advice and ordered Raghu to be hanged. Raghu was brought to the king’s court and sentenced. As he was about to be taken from the court, Raghu said, “Please, please, your Majesty, do allow me to tell you why I said that I would marry your daughter.”

The king said, “You may tell your story.”

Raghu said, “This all happened in a dream. In my dream I married your daughter.”

The king said, “It was only a dream?”

The king looked at Bhola to help him decide what to do. Bhola said, “Even in a dream we do not dare to do this kind of thing. How could he have a dream that he is marrying your daughter? He should be hanged.”

Kala was so miserable. He said to the king, “How can you take a dream like this seriously? We have so many dreams, but nothing comes of them. And now you are ready to hang him!”

At this point Raghu interrupted. He said, “Please, please, allow me to complete my story.”

The king said, “What more do you have to say?”

Raghu went on, “I saw in my dream that another king who is your rival came and attacked you. In the dream that particular king forced me to marry your daughter. You were killed in the dream and then that king told me that I would marry your daughter. I saw all this quite clearly.”

The king was shocked. He said, “How could it be? How could I be killed?”

Raghu said, “No, in the dream I saw that this king killed you. Still the story does not end there.”

The king asked, “There is still more you have to say?”

Raghu said, “Yes. When you were killed, immediately Kala killed himself because he has such love for you. But what did Bhola do? He started criticising you ruthlessly. In this way he became very dear to the king who killed you. This Bhola is such a rogue! He always flatters you. But when the neighbouring king killed you, Bhola immediately started flattering the other king in order to secure a very high post.”

The king became absolutely furious. He said to Bhola, “You rogue! So this is what you will do after my death! Kala will kill himself because of his love for me, but you will only criticise me.” Then the king decided to give Kala a very high post. At the same time, he decided to have Bhola put to death. Bhola pleaded, “Please, please, do not kill me! Do not kill me!”

The king said, “Then you have to leave the country. I will no longer keep you in my country. Go and join that other king.”

So Bhola was dismissed and Kala was given a high post. Then the king said, “Now, what am I going to do with my daughter?”

Kala said, “Your Majesty, it is up to you to decide who is worthy of your daughter. Since you have asked me for my opinion, I wish to say there is somebody who really brought to your notice what kind of nature Bhola had. Bhola was fooling you all the time and he made so many people angry. So if you want to honour an honest man, then I would like to suggest Raghu. I am not advising you. This is only my humble suggestion. If you want to honour an honest man, then he is the one. Raghu is so nice. In his dream he saw everything, and that is how you found out the real nature, the true nature of Bhola.”

The king said, “You have such love for me. I should listen to you. When you saw that I was killed, you said, ‘There is nothing left for me here’ and you immediately killed yourself. What a difference from that rogue Bhola! I shall never forget what you did. I accept your suggestion. Let my daughter marry Raghu.”