No Escape

In a certain town lived a merchant called Nagaswami. He planned to celebrate his daughter’s wedding soon, but he did not have enough money for that purpose. However, he did have a precious jewel which he thought he would sell and get a lot of money in exchange.

But who would buy such an expensive jewel? Only the king could. So, the merchant offered it to the ruler, who sent it to his experts to assess its right value. They announced that it was indeed a rare jewel and would cost the exchequer not less than a lakh and twenty thousand gold sovereigns.

The king asked Nagaswami whether he would be willing to accept that price, and the latter said, “Your Majesty, I am perfectly satisfied with the price. But I don’t wish to carry all that money with me. For now, I should be happy to take only twenty thousand gold sovereigns. I shall come back later and collect the balance.”

The king agreed to this and gave the required money to Nagaswami. As the latter was returning home, he went to a village fair and bought a piebald milch cow. Then tying it with a rope to the tail of his horse, he began to trot homewards.

Now, Nagaswami’s activities had aroused the interest of a notorious thief and his son. The father declared he would steal the cow, and the son should steal the money. While Nagaswami was passing through a jungle path, the older thief came silently from behind and, untying the rope, led the cow away. The merchant discovered his loss only after some time, but he did not guess that a clever thief had made off with the cow. He galloped on and came to a deep river. Suddenly, he saw a boy drowning in the waters. Quickly, he jumped down from the horse, and after hiding his money and clothes in a bush, leaped into the river. As he struck the water headfirst, he felt his legs seized and bound by a rope. Before he could free himself, dimly, he heard the sound of hooves galloping off. The thief’s son had taken the money and galloped off on the merchant’s horse.

Poor Nagaswami realized that he had been duped. When he came ashore after a great deal of effort, he went straight to the king and related all that had happened to him. The king, taking pity on the merchant, asked him to stay at the palace and rest before resuming his journey. Nagaswami tarried awhile at the palace.

In the meanwhile, the king’s minister caused it to be announced that the king needed piebald cows, and anyone willing to sell one such would be paid a thousand gold sovereigns.

The thief who stole Nagaswami’s cow left the animal in his house and went off to commit a fresh robbery. His wife naturally did not know that it had been stolen because the thief had never taken her into his confidence. When she heard the king’s announcement, she drove the piebald cow to the palace.

Many people brought their cows to the palace, and Nagaswami, inspecting the arrivals, reported to the king that his cow was also amongst them. The king ordered his soldiers to seize the thief from the woman’s house and bring him before the court. Thus, the thief was caught and beaten severely. Writhing in pain, he confessed all.

In the meanwhile, some more soldiers had caught the thief’s son, who was found riding Nagaswami’s horse. When the thief’s son galloped off on the horse, the animal, sensing that the man who sat on its back was not the true master, made off for the merchant’s house. The villagers, noticing an unfamiliar figure on the merchant’s horse, had caught and handed him over to the soldiers. Thus, a notorious thief and his son were finally caught and punished. Nagaswami got back his stolen property and, with the money given to him by the king, celebrated his daughter’s wedding with a lot of pomp and ceremony.