Vikram and Betal Modern Stories
King Vikram was very furious. Betal had flown back to his tree. Vikram got back and pounced upon Betal and got hold of him and put him on his shoulder to take him to Sage.
Like the previous time, Betal again told Vikram that the journey is long and he will narrate a story and at the end of story will ask for an answer. The condition would be the same that if Vikram speaks then Betal will fly back to his tree in the Jungle. But if Vikram knew the answer of the story, but remained silent then his head would be smashed into 1000 pieces.
Betal again started narrating a story.
Long ago there was a King named Veral of a city called Gurgaonia. He had a daughter called Avanti. She was very lovely and charming. Once a price named Charudut of another kingdom called Faridania came to Gurgaonia for some official purpose. He saw Avanti and fell in love with her. Avanti too was charmed by his masculine appearance. He stayed there for few days and both of them secretly spent some time together and decided to get married.
Prince Charudut promised that he will send a marriage proposal to his father. She told him that if he does not marry her by end of month she will commit suicide. He promised her, whatever may happen, their marital knot was imminent and if it does not happen then he will also commit suicide by month end. It was a promise of a true Prince.
He went back and consulted with his father and accordingly the marriage proposal for Charudut and Avanti was sent to King Veral. King Veral got furious about it and immediately rejected it. King of Faridania whose armed force was much better than Gurgaonia sent another letter to agree to proposal else face war. But Veral was adamant to not to let his daughter marry Charudut and replied he would prefer a war instead of agreeing for marriage proposal.
All army men of war had taken an oath that required them to protect their master. If master die then they all had to due to show solidarity towards their leader. This rule of army had ensured that their war troop remain loyal to their master and do everything to protect him.
Accordingly, Price Charudut with his 15000 army marched against Gurgaonia. Gurgaonia was a square shaped city which was protected by a deep pit of width of 10 feet and 100 feet deep. In that pit there was water full of crocodiles and poisonous turtles that could kill any person falling in that pit. In case of attack the door use to be lifted and as result this pit full of water, crocodiles and poisonous turtles used to protect Gurgaonia from enemy.
Prince Charudut was aware of it. So he took Logs of wood which were 11 feet long. He decided to cover the entire pit with log of wood from both sides and then march his army through them to attack Gurgaonia. But King of Gurgaonia was smart. He was aware of this plan of Charudut. So overnight he widened the pit to 12 feet so that logs of wood would not get support from both sides. Charudut will have to return his army.
Month end was near by just 2 days and Charudut army reached the gates of Gurgaonia but got surprised to see that their log of wood was not sufficiently long to cover the pit anymore. His foolish assumption had killed his entire game plan. He had not taken any tools, hammer or Fevicol like adhesives which could join his log of wood into a length longer than 12 feet. Besides, joint log also could not bear the weight of his army.
Charudut could not take his army back and come up with longer log of wood since it would have taken at least 10 days to get back and by next 2 days her princess Avanti would commit suicide.
He was a man of words. He remembered his promise of committing suicide himself. There was a problem. He was on a battlefield. If he would have committed suicide, his entire 15000 army troop will also commit suicide due to army rule.
It was his error which created this hopeless situation. He thought, “Why should his army pay for his foolishness? But then he could not go back to his promise and just keep quiet in front of army as it would amount to treachery in love. His own conscience was at stake. What is bigger, his own army or Avanti or promise or rule of army or his desire for Avanti?”
Betal stopped after this story and told Vikram, “Hey Vikram, you are a man of wisdom. Here is a prince of promise who does not want to let 15000 people die because of his foolishness. But life without real love has no purpose. Besides, a promise is a promise and that too the promise of a person in such high standing. His conscience is at stake. What should he choose?
Hey Vikram, if you know the answer but do not answer then your head will be smashed into 1000 pieces.
Vikram wisdom was again being tested. Last time (In story No 2) he was able to come up with a fascinating solution but here it was a question involving subjective solutions. His wisdom was at stake. Being a just and fair King himself he had to come up with something which was logical and agreeable. He thought for a while and answered.
PLEASE THINK FOR A WHILE ABOUT YOUR OWN REPLY BEFORE VIKRAM ANSWER BELOW. IT WOULD GIVE YOU AN INSIGHT ABOUT YOURSELF
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Vikram answered
“Hey Betal, The prince dilemma is right. It is his foolishness which is causing this distress. It is logical to not to waste life of 15000 people without even war. But there is nothing like finding a purpose of life with true love. At one side there is a moral conscience and on the other side there is love and promise and again a conscience to live up to promise. Both have their own importance and are actually not comparable. For a lover, everything seems fair since love is supreme. But for a prince there is also a duty to take care of his people in war. He cannot let them commit suicide.
So my decision would be as below
How to Conquer Gurgaonia
- The city Gurgaonia is square shaped
- The pit is 12 ft. long as shown in yellow in the figure above.
- The Log of wood is actually 11 Ft. long.
- You can put first log of woods diagonally as shown in figure with green arrow from point K to Point L.
- You can put more logs of woods from prince army side to this (KL) log of wood (as shown as Red lines)
- Then you can put Log of wood from KL towards Gurgaonia (as shown in blue lines)
- Hence you can cover the corners of Gurgaonia by putting wood on top of first diagonal wood (KL)
- This way you can enter Gurgaonia without needing to join any Log of wood .
- Hence King can let his army enter Gurgaonia
- Hence there is no need to commit suicide.
Betal heard and said,
“Hey Vikram, Again I am mesmerized by your wisdom. It is one of the most appropriate answers under the circumstances. But you forgot one thing, you spoke hence I am going back to my tree”.
Betal started flying and went back to his tree. Vikram got furious and started following him back to get hold of him. Vikram was adamant that he will catch hold of Betal.