_The Man who changed into a Woman at Will. Was his wife his or the other
man's?_
So the king went back as before under the sissoo tree, put the goblin
on his shoulder, and started toward the monk. And as he walked along,
the goblin told the king a story.
There was a city called Shivapur in Nepal. Long ago a king named
Glory-banner lived there, and he deserved the name. He laid the burden
of government on his counsellor named Ocean-of-Wisdom, and devoted
himself to a life of pleasure with his wife Moonbright.
In course of time a daughter named Moonlight was born to them, pleasing
as the moonlight to the eyes of men. When she grew up, she went one day
in spring with her servants to a festival in the garden.
There she was seen by a Brahman youth named Master-mind, the son of
Rich, who had come there to the festival. When he saw her plucking
flowers with one arm uplifted, he went mad with love. His heart was
taken captive by the gay maiden, and he was no longer master of his
mind.
He thought: "Is she the goddess of love, plucking the spring flowers in
person? Or is she a forest goddess, come here to worship the
spring-time?"
Then the princess saw him, like a new god of love incarnate. The moment
her eyes fell on him, she fell in love, forgetting her flowers and even
her own limbs. While they looked at each other, lost in love like
people in a picture, a great wail of anguish arose. They lifted their
heads to learn what the matter was, and just then an elephant that had
broken his chain, maddened by the scent of another mad elephant, came
by, crushing the people in his path. He had thrown off his driver and
the ankus hung from him as he ran. And everyone fled in terror.
But the youth Master-mind ran up in a hurry and took the princess in
his arms. And with a mixture of fear and love and modesty she half
embraced him as he carried her far out of the elephant's path. Then her
people gradually gathered, and she went to the palace, looking at the
youth, and burning over the flame of love.
And the youth went home from the garden, and thought: "I cannot live, I
cannot exist a moment without her. I must seek help from my teacher
Root, who is a thorough rogue." And so the day slowly passed.
The next morning he went to his teacher Root, and found him with his
constant friend Moon. He drew near, bowed, and told his desire. And the
teacher laughed and promised to help him.
So that wonderful rogue put a magic pill in his mouth, and thus changed
himself into an old Brahman. He put a second pill into Master-mind's
mouth, which changed him into a lovely girl. Then that prince of rogues
took him to the king and said: "O King, this maiden has come a long
distance to marry my only son. But my son has gone away, and I am going
to look for him. Please keep the girl. For you are a protector to be
trusted while I am looking for my son."
The king was afraid of a curse, so he promised to do it. And summoning
his daughter, he said: "Daughter, keep this maiden in your chamber, and
let her live with you." So the girl took the Brahman youth Master-mind
in his girl form to her own apartments.
When Root had gone away, Master-mind in his girl form lived with his
beloved, and in a few days came to know her in an intimate and loving
way, as girl friends do. Then when he saw that she was pining away and
tossing on her couch, he asked the princess one evening: "My dear girl,
why do you grow pale and thin day by day, grieving as if separated from
your love? Tell me. Why not trust a loving, innocent girl like me? If
you will not tell me, I shall starve myself."
And the princess trusted him and said after a little hesitation: "My
dear girl, why should I not trust you? Listen. I will tell you. One day
I went to the spring festival in the garden. There I saw a handsome
Brahman youth, fair as the moon but not so cold, the sight of whom
kindled my love. For he adorned the garden as the spring-time does.
While my eager eyes were feasting on his face, a great mad elephant
that had broken his chain came charging and thundering past like a
black cloud in the dry season. My servants scattered in terror, and I
was helpless. But the Brahman youth took me in his arms and carried me
far away. I seemed to be in a sandal bath, in a stream of nectar. I
cannot tell how I felt as I touched him. Presently my servants gathered
around, and I was brought here helpless. I felt as if I had fallen from
heaven to earth. From that day I see in my thoughts my dear preserver
beside me. I embrace him in my dreams. What need of more words? I wear
away the time, thinking constantly of him and only him. The fire of
separation from the lord of my life devours me day and night."
When Master-mind heard these welcome words, he rejoiced and counted
himself happy. And thinking the time to reveal himself had come, he
took the pill from his mouth, and disclosed his natural form. And he
said: "Beautiful maiden, I am he whom you bought and enslaved with a
kindly glance in the garden. I was sick at the separation from you; so
I took the form of a girl, and came here. So now bring heaven in a
loving glance to my love-tortured heart."
When the princess saw that the lord of her life was beside her, she was
torn between love and wonder and modesty, and did not know what she
ought to do. So they were secretly married and lived there in supreme
happiness. Master-mind lived in a double form. By day he was a girl
with the pill in his mouth, by night a man without the pill.
After a time the brother-in-law of King Glory-banner gave his daughter
with great pomp to a Brahman, the son of the counsellor
Ocean-of-Wisdom. And the princess Moonlight was invited to her cousin's
wedding and went to her uncle's house. And Master-mind went with her in
his girl form.
When the counsellor's son saw Master-mind in his lovely girl form, he
was terribly smitten with the arrows of love. His heart was stolen by
the sham girl, and he went home feeling lonely even with his wife. It
made him crazy to think of that lovely face. When his father tried to
soothe him, he woke from his madness and stammered out his insane
desire. And his father was terribly distressed, knowing that all this
depended on another.
Then the king learned the story and came there. When the king saw his
condition and perceived that he was seven parts gone in love, he said:
"How can I give him the girl who was intrusted to me by the Brahman?
Yet without her he will be ten parts gone in love, and will die. And if
he dies, then his father, the counsellor, will die too. And if the
counsellor perishes, my kingdom will perish. What shall I do?"
He consulted his counsellors, and they said: "Your Majesty, the first
duty of a king is the preservation of the virtue of his people. This is
the fundamental principle, and is established as such among
counsellors. If the counsellor is lost, the fundamental principle is
lost; how then can virtue be preserved? So in this case it would be
sinful to destroy the counsellor through his son. You must by all means
avoid the loss of virtue which would ensue. Give the Brahman's girl to
the counsellor's son. And when the Brahman returns, further measures
will suggest themselves."
To this the king agreed, and promised to give the sham girl to the
counsellor's son. So Master-mind in his girl form was brought from the
chamber of the princess, and he said to the king: "Your Majesty, I was
brought here by somebody for a given purpose. If you give me to
somebody else, well and good. You are the king. Right and wrong depend
on you. I will marry him to-day, but only on one condition. My husband
shall go away immediately after the marriage and not return until he
has been on a pilgrimage for six months. Otherwise I shall bite out my
tongue."
So the counsellor's son was summoned, and he joyfully assented. He made
the man his wife at once, put the sham wife in a guarded room and
started on a pilgrimage. So Master-mind lived there in his woman form.
When he realized that the counsellor's son would soon return,
Master-mind fled by night. And Root heard the story, and again assumed
the form of an old Brahman. He took his friend Moon, went to
Glory-banner, and said respectfully: "Your Majesty, I have brought my
son. Pray give me my daughter-in-law."
The king was afraid of a curse, so he said: "Brahman, I do not know
where your daughter-in-law has gone. Be merciful. To atone for my
carelessness, I will give your son my own daughter."
The prince of rogues in the form of an old Brahman angrily refused. But
the king finally persuaded him, and with all due form married his
daughter Moonlight to Moon, who pretended to be the old Brahman's son.
Then Root went home with the bride and bridegroom.
But then Master-mind came, and in the presence of Root, a great dispute
arose between him and Moon.
Master-mind said: "Moonlight should be given to me. I married the girl
first with my teacher's permission."
Moon said: "Fool! What rights have you in my wife? Her father gave her
to me in regular marriage."
So they disputed about the princess whom one had won by fraud and the
other by force. But they could reach no decision.
O King, tell me. Whose wife is she? Resolve my doubts, and remember the
agreement about your head.
Then the king said: "I think she is the rightful wife of Moon. For she
was married to him in the regular way by her father in the presence of
her relatives. Master-mind married her secretly, like a thief. And when
a thief takes things from other people, it is never right."
When the goblin heard this, he went back home as before. And the king
stuck to his purpose. He went back again, put the goblin on his
shoulder, and started from the sissoo tree.