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The Hasty King

King Rudranath’s was sitting in his palace when two men entered, quarrelling with each other and stood before the King and bowed.

“Who are you and what is your problem?” he asked.

“I am Nathu and this man Meshu is my neighbour.’’

“This morning, when I was feeding my chickens outside my house, Meshu was eyeing them from the other side. Our houses just have a wall between them. Then he said something about feeling hungry.

I did not pay attention to his words. But to my horror, in the afternoon, I found one of my chickens that has a limp, missing.”

At first, I didn’t suspect Meshu, but later when I thought what he said in the morning, I realised Meshu had stolen my chicken and had eaten it for lunch. I want justice, my King! It pains me to hurt Meshu but the guilty should be punished.”

Saying this Nathu bowed once again.

The King looked at Meshu and asked sternly, “Did you steal his chicken?”

Shaking his head, Meshu pleaded, “No. No. I am not a thief, Your Majesty. I didn’t steal his chicken.”

“Believe me, Majesty. Nathu is lying,” cried Meshu.

Trying to corner Meshu, the King asked, “But didn’t you mention that you were feeling hungry when you saw his chickens?”

Meshu again shook his head helplessly and said, “No, Sir, you have it all wrong. Please let me explain…”

Nathu grew angrier and said, “Please don’t listen to him. He is nothing but a thief and a liar. Punish him, Your Majesty or else he will only end up fooling you with his smart talk.”

Prime Minister Shabir who had been silent up till now, suggested, “Maybe we should send someone to Meshu’s house to see if a chicken was eaten for lunch. There will be feathers and bones in his house if he stole and ate it.”

Nathu glared and said, “No use. I went to his house and searched well. Meshu was very intelligent and cleared all evidence.”

Meshu pleaded with tears in his eyes, “Sir, I am a poor man and I haven’t stolen anything from anyone. Moreover, I…”

Before he could say anything further, the King said harshly, “Enough. This is what all the guilty say. I, hereby order my men to throw you in jail.”

“No… but… I am not a thief… please listen…” Meshu cried, horrified.

Pleased, Nathu whispered to Meshu “Serves you right.” And then he went
his way.

However, Prime Minister Shabir felt something was wrong. He thought, “This is not right. The King should have ordered further investigation instead of simply believing Nathu’s words. What if Meshu is innocent? The King would have then done injustice.”

Later that evening, the King and the Prime Minister were strolling in the Royal Gardens. A little further, the King spotted a chicken that was limping.

“From where did this chicken come in my garden?” the King asked, surprised.

“It must have strayed into the garden, Your Majesty,” said Prime Minister Shabir.

Looking at it, the King said, “I am feeling hungry.”

“Be careful of what you say lest this chicken goes missing. Nathu might
accuse you tomorrow of stealing and eating it. Jail life is not what Your Majesty is used to if I might say,” Prime Minister Shabir said.

“What are you babbling? Have you taken leave of your senses? You know, I am a vegetarian. It was by chance that I said that I was hungry while looking at it. After all, it is nearing dinner time. And what has Nathu and jail got to do with it?” the King asked, annoyed.

“The same thing happened this afternoon with Meshu. It was by chance he said that he was hungry while looking at the chickens. After all, it was afternoon and nearly lunch time. I sent someone to his house and found out that he and his wife are vegetarians. Nathu accused Meshu to jail him. As you can see, this chicken is limping. I am sure it is Nathu’s chicken. I will ask one of our men to find out.”

Just then, a woman came running.

She bowed and said, “Oh King, someone mentioned that they had seen a limping chicken wandering here. It has been missing since morning. Is it here?”

She then spotted and grabbed it.

“Who are you?” The King asked curiously.

“I am Nathu’s wife. Now, may I please go?”

“Yes, you may,” said the King.

The Prime Minister said, “See, it is all clear. Nathu’s wife was not aware of her husband accusing Meshu, or else she wouldn’t have come here.”

“Then why didn’t Meshu tell that he was a vegetarian?” The King asked, puzzled.

“He tried to, but you didn’t let him speak. You punished him, simply by believing Nathu’s words. An innocent man is now in jail. Do pardon me for saying this,” said Prime Minister Shabir.

The King realised his mistake.

“I have committed a big blunder,” he said, “Poor Meshu. I shouldn’t have passed a judgment without a proper enquiry. Had it not been for you, an innocent man would have suffered and a guilty man would have gone unpunished.”

Then the King ordered, “Prime Minister, have Meshu released immediately and give him a gold coin to compensate for his troubles today. And make that Nathu do community service for a year.”

Needless to say, never again did the King act hastily.

Unforeseen Drama!

Raj stepped out of his house, swinging his cricket bat and placing a cap on his head, dashed to his friend, Vineet’s house.

As soon as he rung the doorbell, the door was immediately opened by Vineet.

“Hey, I was just waiting for you. Let’s go,” Vineet said excitedly tossing the cricket ball up in the air.

Laughing, both of them headed to the ground.

They took their positions and started to play.

At one point, Raj hit the ball so hard that it went flying through the air.

“What a shot, Raj! Superb!” clapped Vineet.

Raj grinned and said, “Thanks. How about going and getting the ball now?”

“Very smart.” Vineet made a face and left.

Vineet looked for the ball but was unable to find it.

Puzzled, he wondered where the ball could have fallen.

Then he looked at the huge building next to the ground where construction work had stopped and hesitated. 

From the ground, one could see the back of the building.

Vineet wondered whether the ball could have gone through one of the back windows.

He decided to go inside the building and find the ball. As he entered the building, a man with a gruff voice came out from inside it and ordered him to stay out.

“Uh…I wanted to come and find my ball that may have fallen in through
the back windows of the building,” Vineet explained.

Glowering, the man barked, “Go away.”

Vineet got scared and turned away reluctantly.

He wondered who that man was and why he looked so angry.

Vineet walked away and then looked back.

He saw the man was shouting at someone on his mobile phone, looking very tense.

Vineet hid around the corner and waited patiently.

After a few minutes, the man disconnected the phone. With his eyes on the road, the man started walking to and fro, as if waiting for someone to come.

The area around the building was deserted. Suddenly Vineet saw an old beat-up car come in speedily and brake near the gate of the building.

From inside it, three men jumped out, dragging a bound and gagged boy who looked as old as Vineet.

The four men then dashed inside the building with the boy.

Wide-eyed and horrified, Vineet realised that this was a scene right out of a movie. The only difference being that this was no movie but real life.

Suddenly, he felt a hand on his shoulder. Scared and ready to scream, he turned around. To his relief, he saw Raj and Vineet felt himself go weak at the knees.

“Gosh, you scared me!” Vineet gushed.

“Let’s get out of here,” Raj whispered.

Soundlessly, the boys ran away from there and went to Vineet’s house. In his room, they discussed what they had seen.

Raj too had seen the men drag the boy inside the building and they knew the boy had been kidnapped.

It was decided that Raj would get permission to sleep over at Vineet’s house that night so they help the kidnapped boy.

After everyone had gone to sleep, the boys crept out and walked towards the building site. Both were wearing black clothes and carried backpacks. They paused near the corner of the building and looked around.

Finding the lot empty, they went towards the front. Apart from a scarecrow tied to a pole on the first floor to ward off evil, there was no one around.

They bravely tiptoed their way in. As they went in, they could hear faint sounds of laughter coming from the far end of the building.

Cautiously, the boys reached the end and peeped inside a room there.

The four men were playing cards and cracking jokes. Next to them on a chair, the boy was gagged and tied to it.

Without making a noise, and placing his phone on silent, Raj took several snaps
of the kidnappers and the boy on his mobile phone. 

Asking for help, he forwarded the photos and their location to the local police station number that he had saved on his phone earlier in the evening.

Just as the boys were feeling relaxed, one of the men asked, “Is the car ready, Dev? We have to leave from here in half an hour.”

“Yes, all ready,” nodded Dev.

The boys were shocked to hear this as they hadn’t expected the men to leave.

Vineet whispered, “Now what?”

Raj’s mind raced and then his face brightened.

He whispered, “Go and deflate one of the tyres of the car. And wait there for me.”

Vineet nodded and dashed off.

Raj soundlessly made his way up the steps to the first floor. He reached the edge of the building and untied the scarecrow.

Grabbing it, he went downstairs and flattened it against a tree.

He took out a can of kerosene from his backpack and drenched the scarecrow. And then he left a trail of kerosene from the tree to a faraway bush, where he had planned to hide with Vineet.

Then going up to Vineet, Raj signalled him to follow him to the bushes and wait for the kidnappers to come out.

They came out of the building after some time, pulling the boy with them.

As they neared the car, Dev exclaimed, “Oh no! We have a flat tyre!”

The boss roared, “You idiot! You said the car was ready. Change the tyre immediately.”

While they all waited impatiently, Raj lit the trail of kerosene which caught fire and soon the scarecrow was also on fire.

Horrified, the boy forgotten, the men ran towards the scarecrow.

Taking this opportunity, Vineet and Raj came out of their hiding place and took the boy to their hiding spot. They quickly freed him.

When the men realised the boy was missing, they started shouting at each other.

Just at that moment, with sirens blaring, the police arrived and captured the men.

Raj and Vineet came out of their hiding place and took the boy to the police who then called the boy’s parents. 

The police praised Vineet and Raj but also told them that next time, instead of capturing the kidnappers themselves, they should immediately alert the police and their parents. 

Both boys nodded at that because they realised they could have risked their and the kidnapped boy’s lives in trying to save him by themselves.