Week 13, Storytelling: Vikram

Budhi said “I am going to tell you about the great king Vikram. He was the king of Ujjain, India. He was famous for his intelligence, humbleness, generosity and virtue. He was loved among all his subjects. He went beyond and above to help any subjects who were in need. Ujjain kingdom had never seen a glorious king like Vikram.”

Shena asked “What did he look like Budhi?”

“Little girl, I have mentioned before not to interrupt me! I will let it go this time. However, if you do this one more time, you can go on your own way and never come back. Do you understand?"

“I am sorry Budhi, I will not repeat this mistake again. Please continue.”

“Okay, I shall answer your question as well. He looked as radiant as the sun, tall and handsome. Women fell in love with his beauty and intelligence. When they heard his voice, they willingly gave their heart to him. One day, a monk went to Vikram’s palace and asked for a place to stay. Vikram made sure that the monk had more than what he needed to have a good stay at his palace. The monk gave Vikram a fruit every day in return for letting the monk stay in his palace. Vikram gave these fruits to the treasurer. One day, instead of the treasurer Vikram gave the fruit to a monkey. When the monkey split open the fruit, a precious gem was spotted. Vikram called upon the treasurer and asked him what he did with the fruit and the treasurer replied by saying that he threw the fruits away. He humbly told the king that he could go look for the thrown away fruits and collect the gems. When the gems were presented to Vikram, He gave all the gems to the treasurer. Vikram then sent out a guard to fetch the monk. When the monk came in, he asked him why he was presenting him with such precious gems. The monk replied by saying that he wanted a favor and only someone as brave as Vikram was able to carry out such a favor. Without thinking, Vikram agreed to do the monk a favor. The monk asked Vikram to meet him at the forest next to the graveyard on the next full moon. The monk warned him that no one else could know about the arrangement between them. Vikram nodded his head as in agreement to what the monk said.  On the day of the full moon, Vikram dressed in camouflage and sneaked out of the palace. After a long walk, he finally met up with the monk in the graveyard. The monk seemed so happy to see the king and told him what the favor was. He wanted Vikram to go deeper inside the forest to go fetch a dead body, which was hanging from a tree. Without saying any word, the brave Vikram took off to find the dead body. After a long walk, Vikram found a sissoo tree that the monk mentioned. He noticed a dead body hanging from the tree. He soon realized that a goblin lived inside the body.”

Vikramadithya

Author’s Note

This story is based on the Story Twenty-Two Goblins written by Ryder. Twenty – Two Goblins are translation of Vikram and Vethal stories, which was written originally in Sanskrit. I made the talking tree the narrator of the story. In addition to that change, I have also used the real name of the character which was in Sanskrit than the English translation.

Bibliography

Twenty- Two Goblins by Rider. Website.