A COSTLY SECRET

        Once upon a time, a king saw some young boys pelting stones on a snake, so he prevented the boys from killing it. Thus, he saved its life. The snake, which was the king of the Snake-world, thanked him and favored him with a supernatural power to understand the language of any animal. But he warned him that the divulgence of the secret would cost him his life.

            One day, when the king was sitting in his garden and enjoying breakfast, a small portion of the sweet fell on the ground, soon he heard an ant shouting. “My God! What a big wagon-full of sweet has fallen; and there is none to consume it. Ah! I can enjoy all now.” Hearing this, the king smiled and chucked. The queen, who was sitting next to him, was curious to note the changing countenance of the king. She asked him to tell her the reason for the smile. But the king kept silent as the divulgence of the secret would cost him his life. The queen felt offended and thought that there was something which the king did not want to tell in public.

            At night, when the king was relaxing in the veranda, the queen repeated the same question and demanded the answer. The king then told her that the divulgence of that secret would cost him his life. Nonetheless, the queen persisted by throwing tantrums, still when the king kept his  silence, she attacked his self-respect by calling him a ‘liar’ and muttered  that all his expressions of endearment like – your are dearer to me than my very life” – were nothing but a pack of lies. The king, however, could not bear the attacks on his self-respect and eventually conceded to divulge the secret on the following day in the royal garden; and made up his mind to sacrifice his life.

            A donkey overheard the king’s resolve and decided to save him, because the king was righteous. So, he picked up one of his friends – the goat and they both decided to save the king’s life.

            Next day, when the king and his retinues were on the way to the royal garden, he overheard a donkey and a goat conversing in the side of the garden, “You are a fool but not as big a fool as is the king.” Having heard this, the king was curious and asked the pair “why do you think I am a bigger fool than a donkey?” The goat replied, “Look O King! Today you are going to die to please your wife; but tomorrow when she inherits all your wealth to enjoy it with a new mate, would she ever think of you?” This statement made the king realize his folly. He then reconsidered his decision to reveal the secret to his wife and asked the goat “then what should I tell her, I promised her to tell the secret?” The goat replied, “If you want to come out of this mess, then go and tell your wife that she will be revealed the secret on a condition that she bears a hundred whip lashes on her back before he does so” the king agreed and thanked the pair.

            On reaching the garden, the king said to his wife, “I will let you know the secret on a condition that you will bear a hundred lashes on your back before I do so.” The queen thought it to be a joke and agreed. The king, to her surprise, ordered a court man to whip the queen. The queen, no sooner than she received two lashes, she shouted, “No! No! Stop this! I don’t want to know the secret!”

            The king then said scornfully, “you wanted to know the secret even after knowing that it costs my life; but you could not bear two whip lashes on your skin, you deserve few more lashes”. But before he ordered few more lashes, the chief minister requested him to forgive her. Thus, the queen was forgiven and never received the same honor and respect.