Once there lived a King by the name of Vijay Chandra in the Kingdom of Dolakpur. He was a rich, cunning, and wicked man and had the bad habit of harassing his attendants. He would take great pleasure in assigning them jobs beyond their capacity. Tired and overburdened by the King’s assignments, servants would ask him to release them from their job. And then he would chop off their right ear, and put it in a jar filled with preservatives before setting them free. The servants were helpless and many of them lost their ears, but could not raise their voice against the King. The people of Dolakpur lived in fear and terrified of their King’s whims and fancies.

One day a boy from another kingdom came to Dholakpur. He was puzzled and amused to see many people with their right ear missing. When he asked them the mystery behind the missing ear, they narrated how their King tortured his servants by chopping off their right ear.

The boy decided to take up the challenge and approached the King asking for work as his domestic help. The King, as usual, laid the condition for working at the palace. But before agreeing to King’s conditions the boy said, “ Your honour! According to your condition, you can chop my ear if I leave the job, which is agreeable to me. But I too have a condition for you. If you fire me from the job, I will demand your ear”. King laughed with contempt after hearing the boy’s condition and gave him the job at his palace as a personal attendant.

King would assign the hardest jobs to the boy. And the boy would do it without any complaint. One day King asked the boy to take his cattle for grazing. At dusk when the boy returned with the cattle back to the palace, King found the cattle were covered in mud and dust. “ You boy! How dare you bring these dirty cattle to my palace. Now go and wash them clean. Today you will not be served dinner” ordered King. The boy took the cattle for cleaning. He took some stones from the garden and started scrubbing the animals hard. As a result skin of the animals started peeling off and they developed wounds on their bodies. Some cows died due to bleeding. King was angry when he found out some of his cattle had died, due to the foolishness of the boy. But he could not fire the boy from his job and kept quiet.

The following night, King’s young son woke up in the middle of the night and asked his father to escort him to the washroom. Sleepy king called the boy and asked him to help his son. The boy escorted the young prince to the washroom and told him “ you either pee or poop” ( Hagshil tar mutu nakos, Mutshil tar hagu nako). Little prince got scared and ran back to the king, asking him to help him out. King called the boy again, and the boy threatened the young prince to either pee or poop, not both at the same time. After running back and forth a couple of times, little prince panicked and tripped and fell breaking his head. The next day when the King got to know what had happened, he was furious with the boy but he could not fire the boy from his job because of the condition he had agreed to follow.

King was getting more and more frustrated and angry with the boy but could not fire him from the job. One day he asked the boy to get the firewood from the forest. The boy went and collected a large bundle of wood. As he reached the palace he saw the queen and asked her “Command me lady, where should I keep this bundle of wood?” Queen was lost in her thoughts and told him to keep it outside. The boy went out and came in from the back door and again asked the queen where he should keep the bundle of wood. Queen again told him to keep it outside. This happened many times and then the queen lost her cool and shouted at the boy angrily, saying “ Put it on my head”. The boy quickly dumped the heavy bundle of wood on the queen’s head injuring her severely.

King was devastated and lost his peace of mind by these mishaps that kept happening due to the foolishness of the boy. But he could not fire his servant. He decided to meet his father in law and take his advice on his plight and devised a plan to dump the boy at his father in law’s house. He asked the boy to accompany him along with his entourage. The boy was given the job of carrying a pot of drinking water for the King. On the way, they came across a river. King stopped and boughed to the river and threw few coins into the waters for his safe journey. The boy saw the King paying his obeisance to the river and he threw the pot of water into the river with folded hands. Having travelled a while King felt thirsty and asked for the water, the boy stepped forward and said “ Oh King I saw you pray to the river and throw few coins into the river for the safety of your family. I have no money, so I threw the pot of water in the river asking the great river goddess for your protection and safety”. The King was mad with anger but said nothing and continued on his journey thinking “I will get rid of him in a few hours”.

As they reached closer to the father in law’s palace, King asked the boy to go ahead and inform the his father in law about his arrival and prepare a good delicious meal as he was hungry and tired. The boy arrived at the father in law’s house and informed them of the King’s arrival. He also added
“Sir, the King is feeling very ill due to the strain of the journey and has asked you to prepare a simple diet of boiled vegetables. But I am fine, and I can eat any food you prepare”. Worried about the King’s health, his in-laws offered the King only kanji ( rice gruel) and boiled vegetables and filled the boy’s plate with plenty of delicious food items.

The King was furious and could no longer bear with the boy’s misbehaviour. Finally, he lost his temper and fired him from his job. Without any hesitation, the boy reminded him of their agreement and demanded the King chop off his ear. King had no other choice than to slice off his ear. The boy also asked the King to hand over the jar filled with ears of previous attendants he had collected over the years. The boy left the palace and on the way to the village, he attached ears onto each and every person who had lost their ears due to King’s weird fancy.

The story Collected by Jeslyn Gomes
Source: the story told by her grandmother- Maria Gomes
Location: Maharashtra
Image copyright Vidya Kamat