Courage Wins All

“In a certain village lived a wealthy man who had two sons, Ajay and Vijay. These two lads were always quarreling amongst themselves. Tired of the constant bickering and quarrelling of the two, the father hit upon an idea to teach them good behaviour. He divided his wealth into two equal parts, gave one to each son, and then said, ‘I have a priceless jewel which is a family heirloom. The eldest son has always kept it. Therefore, I am giving it to Ajay.’

At these words, Vijay protested and said, ‘Why should you give it to Ajay? I should have it. After all, we are both equal in our abilities.’

‘Very well. You should both go out and become experts at trade or the other. When you come back, I’ll test each one and give the jewel to the one who is truly praiseworthy.’ Ajay and Vijay agreed to this and set out to learn some trade. Ajay turned to astrology and in five years became a leading practitioner. Vijay went into the army and became an expert soldier. When the brothers returned to their village, they were shocked to find the house in ruins. Their father had become old and infirm and now lay in one corner. They soon learned that bandits had robbed their father of everything.

Ajay found out from his father the exact date and time of the occurrence. Then he told Vijay, ‘Brother, from my knowledge of astrology, I have found out that these bandits are living in a dense forest far from here. That forest is the home of some fierce ghosts, but the bandits seem to have these ghosts under their control. Therefore, it is well nigh impossible to recover our stolen wealth.’

Vijay replied, ‘Listen, brother, I trained to be a soldier. I can fight anybody. I’ll go into this forest and recover everything.’

Then the younger brother journeyed long and wide and at last came to a dense forest. People who learned of his mission tried to dissuade him by telling him that no one had ever returned from that forest alive. But he was not to be swayed from his purpose. Instead, he reasoned that as the bandits were only human, he could easily deal with them. So he kept on ahead until he went deep into the forest. The fierce ghosts saw him and tried to frighten him with all kinds of weird noises.

Undaunted, he pressed on towards them. When he saw them advancing towards him, he drew out his trusted blade and whacked the air with it. At once the ghosts ran away. Then he stood his ground and cried out, ‘Look here, you ghosts, only tell me where the bandits have hidden our treasures. Then I’ll not harm you.’

But no one answered his cry. Tired and worn out by his long travel, Vijay sat under a tree and took out his lunch. His sword lay beside him. A ghost stealing through the air quietly lifted the blade and made off with it.

Then all the ghosts said, ‘Now we need not fear this human. He will be afraid of us.’

When Vijay finished his lunch, he looked around for his sword and saw that it was missing. He guessed that the ghosts must have taken it. He decided to get it back by a trick. So he got up and pretended to leave the forest. All the ghosts thought that he had run off because he was afraid of them.

When night fell, the ghosts came out of their trees one by one and in the moonlight began a weird dance. Vijay, who was only hiding some distance away, covered himself with a thick blanket and joined the ghosts in their dance.

The ghosts were passing Vijay’s blade from hand to hand, and when it came to Vijay’s turn, he quickly seized the sword and sliced off the beard of the chief ghost.

Then the ghosts stopped their dance and began to tremble like aspen leaves. The chief ghost began to lament and cry, ‘Oooo, I’ve lost my beard. Those bandits are controlling this forest with just one hair from my beard. This human has taken my entire beard. Who knows what he will do to us now. Oooo…’

Then it came up to Vijay and pleaded with him to return the beard. Vijay replied, ‘Look here, Mr. Ghost, I shall not harm you one bit. Just show me where those bandits hide out. I’ll capture them and free you from their clutches.’

The chief ghost was comforted somewhat and led Vijay to the underground cellar where the bandits had hidden their ill-gotten wealth. He was overjoyed to see all the treasures of the family there, including the precious jewel, their family heirloom. Then he hid behind a tree and awaited the coming of the bandits.

Early in the morning, the robbers returned from another robbery and went into the cellar to deposit their loot. As each one came up through the narrow mouth of the cellar after depositing the loot, Vijay cut off his head with his sharp blade. In this manner, he cut off all their heads and destroyed them completely. Then he reported to the king of the land what he had done and arranged for the stolen goods to be returned to the rightful owners. He came home finally, laden with presents from the king and brought back all that had been stolen, including the precious jewel.

Vijay’s father and Ajay his brother rejoiced at his good fortune and praised him for his courage. The king wanted to keep the precious jewel, but Vijay declined and said, ‘Let it remain in the family, as a sign that we are one and indivisible.’

The father was overjoyed because his sons were at last united.