Lekhny post -19-Mar-2022

Outside the water, even a jackal can challenge me." The monkey said, "I have to settle scores with a king. If you can lend me the pearl necklace on your body, I will somehow persuade the king and all his men to enter the lake for hidden wealth. Then you can kill all of them." Trusting the monkey, the monster gave him the pearl necklace. The monkey reached the kingdom of Chandra. People saw the dazzling necklace and asked him how he got it. The monkey told them about the lake. When the word reached the king, he sent for the monkey and asked him how he got the necklace. On the monkey telling him everything about the lake, the king, led by the monkey, and accompanied by his family, ministers and followers, reached the lake. The monkey told the king that it was better that all his men entered the lake at the same time at dawn. But the monkey told the king, "My lord, you will not go with them. I will take you separately to a spot where you can get a large store of pearl necklaces." According to the plan, all the king’s men entered the lake at the same time and were killed by the monster. When nobody came out of the water for a long time, the king became suspicious and asked the monkey about the delay in his men coming out of the lake. The monkey immediately sprang to the top of a tree and told the king: "O king, the monster inside the lake has killed all your people. You have killed my people. This is my reply to that treachery." Suvarnasiddhi concluded the story by repeating the earlier verse: "He who is overwhelmed by greed And doesn’t weigh its consequences, Will become a victim of deceit Like King Chandra in this story." Suvarnasiddhi then asked Chakradhara for permission to leave. Chakradhara said that it was not good to desert a friend in distress. "That is true," said the Suvarnasiddhi (gold-finder), "in case one able to aid deserts a friend in a remediable situation. But this situation has no human remedy, and I shall never have the ability to set you free. Besides, the more I gaze at your face, distorted with pain from the whirling wheel, the surer I feel that I am going to leave this spot at once, lest perchance the same calamity befall me, too. There is some point in this: To judge by the expression, Friend monkey, on your face, You have been caught by Twilight He lives who wins the race." "How was that?" asked the Chakradhara (wheel-bearer).