The sprite said, “O king! there is a city named Bardwãn, wherein is a
king named Rüpsen. It happened one day that the king was seated in an
apartment adjoining the gate (of his palace), when, from without the
gate, the loud voices of some people reached him. The king said, ‘Who
is at the gate? and what noise is that taking place?’ Upon this the
gatekeeper replied, ‘Great king! you have asked a fine question! Knowing
this to be the gate of a wealthy personage, numbers of persons of
all kinds come and sit at it for the sake of money, and converse on a
variety of topics; this is _their_ noise.’”
“On hearing this the king kept silent. In the meanwhile a traveller,
named Birbar, a Rajput, came from the south to the king’s gate, in
the hope of obtaining service. The gate-keeper, after ascertaining his
circumstances, said to the king, ‘Your majesty! an armed man has come
in the hope of entering your service, and stands at the door: with your
majesty’s leave he shall come before you.’ Having heard this, the king
gave the order to bring him in. He went and brought him. Then the king
asked, ‘O Rãjpüt! How much shall I allow thee for daily expenses?’ On
hearing this Birbar said, ‘Give me a thousand _tolas_ (about 833 oz.)
of gold daily, and I shall be able to subsist.’ The king enquired, ‘How
many persons are there with you (dependent on you)?’ He replied, ‘First,
my wife; second, a son; third, a daughter; fourth, myself: there is no
fifth person with me.’ Hearing him speak thus, all the people of the
king’s court turned away their faces and began laughing; but the king
began to consider why he had asked for a large sum of money. Ultimately
he thought it out in his own mind, that a vast sum of money given away
will some day prove of advantage. Coming to this conclusion, he sent
for his treasurer and said, ‘Give this Birbar a thousand _tolas_ of gold
daily from my treasury.’
“On hearing this order, Birbar took a thousand _tolas_ of gold for that
day, and brought it to the place where he was staying, and dividing
it into two parts, distributed one half among the Brahmans; and again
dividing the remaining half into two parts, distributed one portion
thereof among pilgrims, devotees, the worshippers of Vishnu, and
religious mendicants; and of the one part which remained he had food
cooked and fed the poor, and what remained over he consumed himself. In
this way he, with his wife and children, used regularly to subsist. And
every night he used to take his sword and shield and go and mount guard
over the king’s couch; and when the king, roused from sleep, used to
call out, ‘Is any, one in waiting?’ then he used to answer, ‘Birbar is
in attendance; what may be your commands?’ Thus answered he whenever
the king called out, and thereupon, whatever he (the king) ordered to be
done, he executed.”
“In this way, through eagerness for wealth, he used to keep awake the
whole night long; nay, whether eating, drinking, sleeping, sitting
still, or moving about (that is to say) during the whole twenty-four
hours (_lit._ eight watches), he used to keep his lord in mind. The
practice is, that if one person sells another, this one becomes sold;
but a servant, by entering service, sells _himself_; and, when sold, he
becomes a dependant; and once dependant, he has no prospect of peace. It
is notorious, that however clever, wise, and learned he may be, still,
when he is in his master’s presence, he remains quite silent, like a
dumb person, through fear. So long as he is aloof from him, he is at
rest. On this account it is that the learned say, ‘To perform the duties
of a servant is more difficult than to perform religious duties.’”
“(To) the story: It is related, that one day the weeping voice of a
woman chanced to come at night-time from the burning-ground. On hearing
it the king called out, ‘Is any one in waiting?’ Birbar instantly
answered, ‘I am here; your commands.’ Thereupon the king gave him this
order,--‘Go to the spot whence yon weeping voice of a woman proceeds,
and enquire of her the cause of her weeping, and return quickly.’
Having given him this order the king began to say to himself, ‘Whosoever
desires to test his servant should order him to do things in season and
out of season; if he execute his order, know that he is worth something;
and if he object, be sure that he is worthless. And in this same
way prove brethren and friends in days of adversity, and a wife in
poverty.’”
“In fine, on receiving this order, he took the direction whence the
sound of her weeping proceeded; and the king also, after dressing
himself in black, followed him secretly, for the purpose of observing
his courage. In this interval Birbar arrived there. What does he behold
in the burning-ground, but a beautiful woman, lavishly decked with
jewels from head to foot, crying aloud and bitterly! At one moment she
was dancing, at another leaping, at another running; and not a tear in
her eyes! And while repeatedly beating her head, and crying out,
‘Alas! alas!’ she kept dashing herself on the ground. Seeing this her
condition, Birbar asked, ‘Why art thou crying and beating thyself so
violently? Who art thou? and what trouble has befallen thee?’”
“On this she said, ‘I am the royal glory.’ Birbar said, ‘Why art thou
weeping?’ Upon this she began relating her case to Birbar, saying,
‘Impious acts (_lit_. acts such as a Shüdra performs) are committed in
the king’s house, whence misfortune will find admission therein, and
I shall depart thence; after the lapse of a month the king will suffer
much affliction and die; this is the sorrow which makes me weep.
Further, I have enjoyed great happiness in his house, and hence this
regret: and this matter will in nowise prove false.’”
“Birbar then asked, ‘Is there any such remedy for it, whereby the king
may escape, and live a hundred years?’ She said, ‘Towards the east, at
a distance of four _kos_ (eight miles), is a temple sacred to (the
goddess) Devi; if you will cut off your son’s head with your own hand,
and offer it to that goddess, then the king will reign a hundred years
precisely as he now reigns, and no harm of any kind will’ befall the
king.’”
“As soon as he had heard these words, Birbar went home, and the king
also followed him. To be brief, when he got home, he awoke his wife, and
minutely related the whole story to her. On hearing the circumstances,
she roused the son alone; but the daughter also awoke. Then that woman
said to her boy, ‘Son! by sacrificing your head the king’s life will be
saved, and the government, too, will endure.’ When the boy heard this,
he said, ‘Mother! in the first place, it is your command; in the second,
it is for my lord’s service; thirdly, if this body come of use to a
deity, nothing in the world is better for me; in my opinion, than this:
it is not right to delay any longer now in this business. There is a
saying, ‘If one have a son, to have him under control,--a body, free
from disease,--science, such that one benefits thereby,--a friend,
prudent,--a wife, submissive,--if these five things are obtainable by
man, they are the bestowers of happiness and the averters of trouble: if
a servant be unwilling, a king parsimonious, a friend insincere, and a
wife disobedient, these four things are the banishers of peace and the
promoters of misery.’”
“Birbar again addressed his wife, saying, ‘If thou wilt willingly give
up thy child, I will take him away and sacrifice him for the king.’
She replied, saying, ‘I have no concern with son, daughter, brother,
kinsfolk, mother, father, or any one; from you it is that my happiness
proceeds; and in the moral Code, too, it is thus written,--‘A woman
is purified neither by offerings nor by religious offices; her religion
consists in serving and honouring her husband, no matter whether he be
lame, maimed in the hands, dumb, deaf, blind of both eyes, blind of one
eye, a leper, hunch-backed,--of whatever kind he be, if she perform any
description of virtuous action in the world, while she does not obey
her husband, she will fall into hell.’ His son said, ‘Father! the man by
whom’ his master’s business is accomplished--_his_ continuing to live in
the world is attended with advantage; and in this there is advantage in
both worlds.’ Then his daughter said, ‘If the mother give poison to the
daughter, and the father sell the son, and the king seize everything,
then whose protection shall we seek?”’
“The four, deliberating with one another somewhat after the above
fashion, went to the temple of Devi. The king also secretly followed
them. When Birbar arrived there, he entered the temple, paid his
adoration to Devi, and joined his hands in supplication, and said,
‘O Devi! grant that by the sacrificing of my son the king may live a
hundred years.’ Saying so much, he struck such a blow with the sword
that his son’s head fell upon the ground. On witnessing her brother’s
death, the daughter struck a blow with the sword on her own neck, so
that her head and body fell asunder. Seeing her son and daughter dead,
Birbar’s wife struck such a stroke with the sword on her own neck, that
her head was severed from her body. Further, seeing the death of those
three, Birbar, reflecting in his mind, began to say, ‘When my _son_ is
dead, for whose sake shall I retain service? and to whom shall I give
the gold I receive from the king?’ Having reflected thus, he struck such
a blow with the sword on his own neck, that his head was severed from
his body. Again, beholding the death of these four, the king sajd to
himself, ‘For my sake the lives of his family have perished; accursed is
it any longer to govern a realm for which the whole family of one is
destroyed, while one holds sovereignty; it is no virtue thus to reign.’
Having deliberated thus, the king was on the point of killing himself
with the sword; in the meantime, however, Devi came and seized his hand,
and said, ‘Son! I am well pleased at thy courage, and will grant thee
whatever boon thou mayest ask of me.’ The king said, ‘Mother! if thou
art pleased, restore all these four to life.’ Devi said, ‘This same
shall take place,’ and on the instant of saying it, Bhawãni brought the
water of life from the nether regions, and restored all four to life.
After that the king bestowed half his kingdom on Birbar.”
Having related so much, the sprite said, “Blessed is the servant who did
not grudge his life, and that of his family, for his master’s sake! And
happy is the king who showed no eagerness to cling to his dominion and
his life. O king! I ask you this,--Whose virtue, of those five, was the
most excellent?” Then King Vikramãjït said, “The king’s virtue was the
greatest.” The sprite asked, “Why?” Then the king answered, saying, “It
behoves the servant to lay down his life for his master, for this is his
duty; but since the king gave up his throne for the sake of his servant,
and valued not his life at a straw, the king’s merit was the superior.”
Having heard these words, the sprite again went and suspended himself on
the tree in that burning-ground.