The fool

Once there was a man who had a special sword which was passed down on him by his father. It was a family heirloom. The man was invincible in sword fight owing to the special sword.

One day a fool of ill intention prepared two bundles of hay stacks. He shoved a flat slab of tone in one of the stack and went to challenge the man.

“No matter how sharp your sword may be, you just can’t chop off the stack.” the fool challenged. Thinking that the man was making fool of him, the invincible sword fighter accepted the challenge and even warned the fool that he would not spare him if he won the challenge. He waved his sword on the hat stack with a full swing and tried to chop it with all his might with confidence. He stuck the hidden stone slab inside which broke his sword. On the contrary, the fool cut off the other hay stack without much difficulty. Though he performed a miraculous deed, nobody bothered to pay any compliment to the fool but the spectators were held speechless seeing their hero defeated.

One day on his mother’s order, the fool was out to fetch firewood. Just then the royal runner happened to pass by. He was surprised to see the fool sitting on the edge of the branch and cutting the branch facing the trunk. The royal runner warned him of the danger but he didn’t pay any heed and continued chopping. After a while, he fell with a heavy thud along with the branch. He hurt himself very badly and couldn’t help crying due to pain. He thought that the man who had advised him was the incarnation of the great lama since he could predict what happened. So, he ran after the runner and caught up with him and said, “Hey, I didn’t know that you were a reincarnation. You can even predict. Please tell me when I will die and how long will I live”. “well you go to the river bank, undress and sit on the slab of stone, feel it after a while. If it feels cold think that you are a dead man” said the runner and went away.

As instructed. He went and did as directed. To his bad luck he left his bottom cold. As said by the runner he took himself for dead. So, he dug a hole of his height beside the path and jumped in. just then a stranger happened to pass by and asked him the direction to his village.  “I knew the route but now I am dead so I don’t know” answered the fool. The stranger got very scared thinking that the fool was either a ghost or mad so  he ran away as fast as he could.