XXXVI.
AN HONEST SERVANT.
There was a king at Anantapur, Kunthibhoja by name. While he was holding his darbar, being seated on his throne, and surrounded by a host of pundits, ministers, and others, a Kshatriya came and bowed and said that he was an expert in archery, and that he came there to serve the king as he was not able to get a living elsewhere. The king engaged his services at one hundred rupees per month. From that day forwards he kept a vigilant watch over the king's palace. On a certain midnight, while the king was sleeping comfortably upstairs, he heard the cries of a woman, called his attendant and asked him what it was. The archer said that he, too, had heard the same cries for ten days past, but, could not say why it was, but that he would make enquiries, should the king command him to do so. The king consented, and followed him incognito to see whither he went. He went outside the town, and there saw a woman with dishevelled hair, seated near the temple of Durga, crying at the top of her voice. He asked her who she was and why she was crying. She replied that she was the tutelary Goddess of Kunthibhoja's kingdom, and that as the king was to breathe his last in two or three days more she was crying—for, who would protect her then? The archer then asked her if there were any means by which the king's life could be saved. Whereupon she said that if the archer's son were offered as a sacrifice to Durga, the king would live for a very long time. The archer thereupon consented to the proposal, went home, and informed his son of what had transpired. The son asked him to perform the sacrifice instantly and save the life of the king, for, by the king a good many people lived. The archer then took his son to the temple, drew his sword from the scabbard, and was about to slay him, when Durga appeared before them, and said that she was so pleased with his bravery that he must desist, and said moreover that she would confer on him any boon he might ask. The archer then requested Durga to spare the life of king Kunthibhoja, and to bless him with long life and prosperity. Durga gave him the boon sought for and disappeared. The archer, overcome with joy. sent his son home, and went to the king's palace. The king, who witnessed incognito everything that had transpired, quietly reached his palace, went upstairs, and pretended to be asleep. The archer went to the king and said that a woman who had had a quarrel with her husband was weeping bitterly, and that he had pacified her and sent her home. The king feeling grateful to the archer, raised him to the rank of Commander-in-Chief of his forces.
Moral:—Honest servants will not fail to risk their own lives when calamities befall their masters.