20. Summary of the lesson "In the Kingdom of Fools"

"In the kingdom of fools" is an exciting folktale taken from A K Ramanujan's "Folktales from India". The story was about a foolish king and his minister. They were considered to be idiots because they lacked intelligence. They decided to run their kingdom differently. So they passed new rules in the city like people should sleep during the day and work during the night. On a bright day, a guru and his disciple arrived at the city.

 

The guru was astonished that the people were sleeping during the day and worked during the night. He and his disciple were delighted to see that all the food items in the kingdom cost a single duddu. Later the guru sensed some danger in the city and thought of leaving the place immediately. But the disciple did not listen to his guruji's words. Finally, the guru left the place. The disciple stayed in the city and ate a lot of food for a single duddu. As days passed, the disciple became fat like a street-side sacred bull.

One day, a burglar entered a wealthy merchant's house by making a hole in the wall. After stealing things, he tried to escape through the hole. Unfortunately, the weak wall collapsed on his head, and he died on the spot. Later the thief's brother approached the king for justice. He claimed that when his brother was committing the ancient trade of theft, the merchant's wall had fallen on him and died. He asked the king to get him compensated.

As the king was foolish, he did not analyse that the dead man was a criminal. On the other hand, he called the merchant for punishing him. At that time, the merchant stated that the wall was built during his father's time and the man who had made the wall had to be punished. So the king called out the bricklayer to punish. Later, the bricklayer stated that he got distracted by a dancing girl who was roaming up and down the street at the time of construction.

 

After that, the king called out the dancing girl. The dancing girl was now an older woman. She came to the palace and stated that she had roamed up and down in the street because of a lazy goldsmith. She had given some gold to him to make jewellery out of it. But he made excuses all the time. So she went to his shop several times. Meanwhile, the bricklayer saw her, and he got distracted, and she said that it was not her fault. It was the fault of the goldsmith. Later the king sent his messengers to arrest the goldsmith. The goldsmith was hiding in the corner of his shop.

The goldsmith was taken before the king. He started to tell his side of justification. He stated that he had delayed the dancing girl's jewellery because he had an order from a wealthy merchant. Finally, the king judged that the wealthy merchant was the reason behind everything. So he ordered his servants to call him. The merchant arrived at the palace. The king stated that the merchant was the real murderer. At that time, the merchant pleaded with the majesty that the house was built during his father's time and he was dead. Later, the king discussed with his minister and concluded that the merchant had inherited his father's wealth, so he should bear his father's sin. So the king ordered his servants to make a new stake. When the servants were sharpening the stake, the minister noticed that the merchant was too thin to be executed on the stake. Later the king got an idea, and he ordered his servants to find a fat man who would fit the stake.

Finally, the servants found the fattened disciple. The disciple was taken to the place of execution. Before going to die, the disciple remembered the words of his guru that the city was not safer to live in. Later, he prayed to his guru to save him. Then the guru visualised everything in his mind due to his magical powers and arrived to save him. He used his intelligence and wisdom to trap the foolish king. The guru stated that the stake was the god of justice. Those who die first would be reborn as a king, and those who die second would be reborn as a minister.

 

The king did not want to lose his kingdom. So he and his minister disguised in the form of the guru and his disciple and went to the prison. Later the servants took them to the place of execution. The next day, the kingdom's citizens were shocked to see the dead bodies of their king and minister. They mourned because no one was there to take care of the kingdom. Later they begged the guru and his disciple to become their new king and minister. The guru agreed on a condition that the kingdom would function normally like another kingdom. Later, people started to work during the day and sleep at night as well the things were sold for their actual price.