The mother saves the youngest prince
Once a particular king died, and his eldest son became king. His ministers immediately advised him, “Kill your five brothers. Otherwise, one day they will try to dethrone you.”So the king killed all his brothers, except for his baby brother who was only two years old. Still the ministers warned him, “It is better to kill the child now. Who knows what will happen in the future?”
The king’s mother was sad and miserable that her eldest son had killed his four brothers. But what could she do? The king was the king. When she heard that he was planning to kill her two-year-old son as well, she went to him and said, “You have killed all my other sons. Tomorrow you will take the youngest one’s life. What can I do? You are the king, and this is your order. But please give me a day to calm my mind and bring forward my inner strength before my youngest son is killed.”
Then, in secret, with the help of friends, the mother found a merchant from another country who agreed to take her youngest son away and bring him up in his own country. She gave him lots of money and asked him to take good care of her son.
One of the mother’s servants happened to hear about the plan. She went to the mother and said, “I have heard that you are sending your son to another country. Tomorrow if the king does not see his baby brother, you will be in trouble. Let me substitute my own son for the baby prince. He is your son’s age, and he even looks like your son. Please let my son be killed in his place. Who knows, perhaps your son will one day be the king of this land or of some other land.”
The queen was so moved and so grateful. She wanted to give the servant a very large amount of money, but the servant would not accept anything. She said, “The prince’s safety is my reward.”
So the servant’s son was killed, and the young prince went to another country. After some time the merchant sent a letter to the mother telling her that her son was all right. He said that he had employed two or three nurses to take care of him.
O God, nothing remains a secret. Ten years later one of the nurses became jealous of another nurse who was getting a higher salary than she was. She became furious with the merchant and wanted to take revenge. This particular nurse knew the story of the child, so she informed the governor of the state that the prince was hiding there. When the governor came to know about the prince, he sent a message to the boy which said, “Give me a very large amount of money or I will send you back to your brother.” At that time the prince was twelve years old.
The boy wrote a letter to his mother, and the merchant brought it to her. The mother sent the governor a very large amount of money. But, to be safe, the merchant took the prince to a different country. When the prince grew up, he became the ruler of that country.
