The Myth

“Hey! Do you ever wonder what would happen if father learns that you have run away?” she asked me. She was Nora, the daughter of the king of Mohen-jo Daro. She had seen me climbing down her wall.

“I’ve got no time to ponder, lady. I am certain, he’d never come to know. You could prove loyal enough, could you not?” I had said these words, I remember well (though it’s been an year today.) My words were too plain to affect any expression on her face.

“Don’t you try to slip away, lest I should call the guards. I order you to not to move a step beyond where you are, for I am your master and you are my slave.” So very true it is that people command when they lack the courage to request. A similar thing had happened with the lady of that land, I remember well.

“Your Majesty, I ask you if you could be kind enough to tell me the reason for me to not leave this palace.

“For, for..” she hesitated, but brought her words bound flawlessly, all over again, “you have, in your belongings, my father’s salt and money. Pay it back and get lost in the world, for no one, then, cares.”

By that time, I had mounted my luggage and myself on the horse’s back and I and my companion were ready to move. I answered the lady with a godly face that I would, surely repay every bit that her family had spent for me.

“Let me leave, Your Majesty, for if the sun shows up, I won’t be able to leave in years that follow.” I said and left that place and my lady lamenting and crying. After a good distance, the lady was out of hearing and I rode and rode and rode until I beheld that the sun had shown up in the morning sky. It is the best thing for a soul to witness in his life.

Great Heavens! I didn’t know which way to go, which track to choose. I left this responsibility to my destiny. I kept on moving and moving.

Until the gorgeous odour hit my nostrils, I did not dare to stop. I saw a shop at a distance and decided to go there to fill up myself, to make my mighty stomach ready for the journey ahead. In a quarter of an hour, I had re-filled. I paid the money and mounted on the horse.

“Oh! Man, get down.”

Was the voice calling me? It was! Why?

I turned and saw man running madly towards me.

“Tell me, what the devil has happened? Why is a kind man, as you, shrieking like a wraith?”I asked the man with frowns on his face.

“Why should not a kind man be not as a wraith when an evil tries to take away his horse?” he said.

His horse? I examined the horse, glanced about and regretted. In almost no time it clearly dawned to me that some thief had fooled my disloyal horse and grabbed the opportunity to take it away. I was taken aback, purely.

I, again, landed on the earth. The man still doomed me.

I walked and walked until a tonga was in sight. It made me happy, but I had no money to pay the fare, for a man had stolen with my horse, my belongings as well.

I pleaded to the tongawallah if he could bestow some of his kindness and let me travel to a distance. I promised him to pay in kind. But, so cruel he was and he purely refused. But, a lady, a God-send for me, paid it for me. I got on the tonga and it began to move. I thanked the lady.

“How do you feel?” she asked, “Hari?”

“I feel pretty good, thanks. He... hey! How in the world do you know me?”

She unveiled her face and took me by surprise. She was, none other than, the princess of Mohen-jo Daro, Nora, the very lady whom I had left mournful early in the morning. She was dressed n a commoner’s outfit. No one could tell if she was the princess or not.

“I climbed down the wall and followed you and my fate made our meeting possible.” Her happiness held no limits, but I was absolutely sad, for I had two people of look after , myself and her.

Anyway, I had allowed destiny to design itself in any shape that she wants and she has done it.

Throughout the journey, I preferred tranquility over a sophistry, for I was afraid that the princess would ask me the reason of my escape. I would not be able to answer her in any way.

“Where d’ye go? I asked my companion.

“Had I had known it, I would have told you. But, I do not. I have asked my destiny to make sure that whichever way I may lead I reach to her, at last.”

“You oughtn’t to think this way. You ought to work to succeed.” I said.

“Look into yourself!”

Women are no buffoons. It is, indeed, a myth that has not to be believed. We kept quiet, for answers were enough to keep us cold for a good time. After sometime, the tongawallah told us that he would go no farther and that we had to climb down. We followed his instructions. It was afternoon already and we were hungry hounds. The very sight of food made us drool poorly.

Both of us shared glances, helplessly, sans money. We had no choice, but to see people stuffing in food in huge mouthfuls. The princess, grabbed my hand, dragged me and pulled me, by the shop into a mall space, beside it.

“What d’ye do, Your Majesty?” I asked.

“Call me Nora, for God’s sake.” she said.

“But...”I completed not, I could not.

“Don’t say a word, so. Do you not want food?”

I did and I very well told her that.

It was getting difficult for me to settle in the place. But, the place did not bother me, once the smell of the food hit my nostrils. The princess was stealing food! But, everything is fair when we have to feed our mighty and evil stomach.

“Why did you run away? Tell me.” She asked me.

I had no choice, but to answer.

At last, I puked out, “I am afraid, you will not believe a word I utter. But, for you want the truth, I tell you. Don’t intervene. Your home is frequented by spirits, I don’t know if good or bad, but they surely love your place.” I had to whisper.

The princess was indeed taken by surprise. Her face was worth seeing at that time. She was afraid.

“The worst part is yet to come. It feeds off of me.”

I stretched my hand to her to show her the bruises on my skin.

“All of these are a symbol. A saint in the land told me to leave tha place the soonest, lest I should be dead in days that would come. I had decided to leave Mohen-jo Daro and the worlds for peace. But, you’ve ruined it all. Why d’ye follow me? The spirit has not left my soul. I’ll have to suffer and face until I die, I suppose.”

There was silence in the smallest place. After sometime, she broke the silence,

“Why the God did you not puke it out to me. I am a help. A great one, I am certain. My Guru might have foreseen this day, that he made me learn mythological methods to vanish evils like these. But, I am afraid, we don’t have any money and we’ll need some ingredients to perform the vidya.”

“Worry not! I’ll try to get the ingredients. Tell me everything that you need.”

I managed to arrange the ingredients from a nearby temple.

We found an empty place and Nora went in with everything that I had got for the puja.

“Don’t let any soul enter in, lest the way would go wrong, entirely.” she ordered me and I obeyed her orders.

For an hour, I consistently felt disturbed and hit by the spirit, but I didn’t shatter. Out from the dark, fire pieces began to appear. Who the devil were they? My vision had blurred. I could only recognize that they were none other than the king’s men. They must have come to find their treasure- their princess, who had escaped. I did not care for anything and stole in.

What in the world had happened? The princess lied on the floor shivering. Her godly face paled.

“He was Brandit’s spirit.” Her voice broke after every word that she spoke.

“Who?”

“My fiancé, whom I killed.” she shaped any word for the last time and left for her heavenly abode.

I had no time to make head or tail of the situation. The roar of the steps could be felt on the ground and I could tell that they approached the room we were in. I was afraid of the raging king. I admit, I had no courage to stay on. I kissed Nora on the forehead and left.

I ran away, once again. It was hard for me to find, before myself, the real world, for it was full of tragedy.

Today, after a year of my lady’s death, I’ve learnt that Brandit chose to trouble me, for I had stolen his love.

Never in my life, would I ask anyone to run away from the world, He has sent him for, or from the truth that lies within oneself.