Prince Wicked And The Grateful Animals
Traditional | India
A wicked prince is saved by a kind man, who later becomes the king after the people turn against the unjust prince.
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Once upon a time, a king had a son named Prince Wicked. He was harsh and mean, always talking rudely or hitting everyone. Both inside and outside the palace, he was like a speck of dust in everyone's eye.
The people whispered to each other, “If he behaves this way as a prince, what will he do when he becomes king?”
One day, while the prince was swimming in the river, a big storm came. The sky turned dark. In the gloom, the servants who were with the prince swam away from him. They thought, “Let's leave him alone in the river. Maybe he will get swept away by the water.”
When they reached the shore, the other servants asked, “Where is Prince Wicked?” The ones from the river shrugged, saying they didn't know. They thought maybe he had already come ashore and gone home.
The king, not finding his son in the palace, asked about him. The servants explained about the storm and how they had lost sight of the prince. The king immediately had the palace gates opened, and all his people started looking for the prince along the river, but they couldn't find him.
The prince, in the meantime, was carried away by the river's current. Scared, he clung to a floating log. During the storm, a Rat and a Snake were also forced out of their homes on the river bank. They too found the same log and climbed onto it. A young Parrot, whose tree had been uprooted by the storm, also found refuge on the log. So there they were, four of them on a log, drifting down the river.
On the river's bank, a kind man lived in a small hut. During the storm, he heard the prince's loud cries. He thought, “I must help that person. I must save his life.” So he swam towards the log, pushed it to the shore, and saved everyone.
At his hut, he built a fire and took care of the animals first, then the prince. This made the prince upset because he thought he should have been taken care of first.
After the storm was over, they all said goodbye to the kind man. The Snake told the man where he could find a hidden treasure of gold. The Rat offered him hidden money. The Parrot promised to gather the choicest rice for him. Lastly, the prince promised to give him great riches when he became king.
After some time, Prince Wicked became the king. He was very rich now. One day, the kind man decided to see if they all would keep their promises. He visited the Snake, the Rat, and the Parrot, and they all happily kept their promises.
Finally, the man went to the city to meet the king. The king, seeing him, thought, “This man has come to ask for the riches I promised him. I must get rid of him before he tells the people that he saved my life.”
So the king ordered his servants to seize the kind man, take him out of the city, and banish him forever. As the man was being marched out, he kept repeating, “It's better to save weak animals than a prince.”
Hearing this, some wise people asked him about the prince he had saved. The kind man told them his story, and the people became angry at the king's unfairness. They decided they couldn't trust a king who could treat his savior so poorly. So, they drove him out from the city and made the kind man their new king.
One day, the king invited the Snake, the Rat, and the Parrot to the palace, and they all gladly came. The king had his servants dig up the gold and collect the money. He made a lovely gold tube for the Snake to live in, a clear glass box for the Rat's home, and a shiny golden cage for the Parrot. They all got their favorite food every day.
From then on, they all lived happily together. The new king was kind and fair, always putting the needs of his people before his own. The animals were always there to lend a hand, remembering how the king had saved them.
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