CHANDAMAMA

Hi Fo|ks !

A \Wonder-ful Neul Lamp toguide you. t0

story-|anA is nou) on sate! It is named Mini-SO'SoUnd

Your favourite friends in -Fairyland could be at

your beck and coil - just by switching it on! Almost"

like Aladdin's lamp!

You could have Red Riding Hood

strolling through the woods with the wolf

folloioing close behind., or Snow white and. the.

Seven Dwarfs, Or eve" Cinderella - Not only these,

but many , many more Or, if you o-re fond oj-

nature study, there are .animals ana birds

to amuse you. . "'hen again, you could pay

a visit to -far- oiuJovy places, or be in the

company of- your holy men cirri women.

Ask your parents to gt you a. MM-Qo-RoUnd

lamp immeotio-tel^

ybws,

Aunty qifta.

I

WIN FABULOUSPRIZES

!

AMARCHITRA KATHAQUIZ CONTEST

IT'S EASY ! IT'S SIMPLE !Just solve a puzzle.

Answer a few questions.

a Say in 30 words why you tike Amar Chitra Katha

1ST PRIZE: BUSH Cassette Tape Recorder2ND PRIZE : flf-Zflf Sports Bicycle

3RD PRIZE: A set of 23-volume New Age Encyclopaedia

4TH PRIZE: Isoly I Camera (to each of 5 winners).

^^AIso SO Chiclet Boxes, 100 sets of 2 FleetPens and many exciting consolation prizes

ENTRY FORMS IN EVERY COPY OF THE LATESTAMAR CHITRA KATHA TITLES -AHILYABAI HOLKAR'and -TANSEN'. AVAILABLE AT ALL BOOKSTALLS.

CONTEST CLOSES ON 3IST JANUARY, 1975.

INDIA BOOK HOUSE EDUCATION TRUST12-H Dalamal Park, 223 Cuffe Parade,

BOMBAY 400 005.

V CHANDAMAMAoL**-'%> Vol.5 JANUARY 197S No. 7

The New Yearns Day is everyman's birthday, said CharlesLamb, the famous English writer. Isn't there a great deal oftruth in that ? For, just as birthday comes to remind us that

the life is ever new, so also a New Year's Day tells us thattht time is ever new. On that day we forget our past failuresand disappointments and look forward to the coming days withhopes and aspirations.

Yes, hopes and aspirations f They are great things in life.We hope to be happy, we hope to be useful to others; theykeep us busy planning and working. Aspiration is a yet greaterquality. It is the lofty desire to know what is truth, what isthe aim of life and it is the urge to perfect ourselves.

But we can cultivate hope and aspiration only if we love

life, only if we know that life is interesting, that it has greatthings to tell us not only through our success but also through

our struggles and even defeats.

This is what Chandamama has tried to tell you throughinnumerable tales old and new and a variety -of colourfulfeatures.

And there is a splendid qualily common between Chandamamaand the New Year's Day: People all over the world observeJanuary I as the New Year's Day irrespective of religiousand racial differences. So also, children alt over India love

"Chandamama" irrespective of their language differences, for"Chandamama" meet them in so many languages !

Printed by B. V, Itcddy at The Prasad Process Private Ltd.. and Published

by B. Viswanatha Reddy for Chandamama Publications. 2 A 3. Arcot Road.Madrai-MX) 026 Controlling Editor: 'Chakrapant'

diamond IMeIn a certain city lived a dia-

mond merchant named Chan-dragupta. He was on the movefor the most part of the year.He travelled into distant lands,bought diamonds and made agood profit by selling them tokings and noblemen.Chandragupta had had no

child for a long time. At last ason was born to him. Thedelighted merchant named hisson Dhanaraj. But unfortu-

nately his wife died whenDhanaraj was only a year old.Chandragupta did not remarrylest a step-mother should mal-

treat the young child. He nowdevoted most of his time tolooking after Dhanaraj. Conse-

quently his business suffered.

Pampered by Chandragupta,Dhanaraj grew up. But heseemed to be too naive andinnocent. He could impressnone either with his studies orwith his conduct.

Chandragupta was sorry tosee such development of hisson's personality. He becameworried about the future ofthe boy.

When Dhanaraj was abouttwenty years of age, Chandra-gupta fell sick. The businesshad already closed down. What-ever he had saved was nowspent for his own treatment.Yet there was no improvementin his condition.

A time came when Chandra-gupta felt that his days were

numbered. He called Dhana-raj and said, "My son, 1 wasrich before you were born. ButI have lost or spent everything.

All I have is this casket with

ten jewels. I have a great friendin the next town, named KeshavGupta. You should go to himand dispose of these jewels byhis help. With the money youget, start some new business.Keshav had a daughter namedKumudini. When you andKumudini were kids, we haddecided that you both shouldbe married to each other whenyou grow up. Remind Keshavabout that. If you marry hisdaughter, Keshav would guideyou in the business."

These were almost Chandra-gupta's last words. He diedsoon.

Dhanaraj performed the fune-

ral rites of his father and thenproceeded to meet KeshavGupta. He was courteouslyreceived. Keshav Gupta said,"I am very sorry to hear aboutthe death of your father whowas a great friend of mine. Tell

me, what can I do for you?"Dhanaraj showed him the

jewels and said, "Nothing moreis left with me. Now, pleasearrange to sell these. Help meto start some business a,nd let

me marry your daughter. Thatshould be enough!"Keshav Gupta became very

angry to hear this. There wasa time when he was a novice inbusiness and it was Chandra-gupta who had guided him tosuccess. But now he had be-come very rich.He did not want to marry his

daughter to an orphan who hadnothing excepting a fewjewels

!

So he flared up: "You seemto be too audacious. 1 havenothing to do with you or yourjewels. Better go and buryyour jewels. A diamond plant

may crop up. That should makeyou happy. Now, get out!"Keshav Gupta's servants

showed the way to the perplexedyoung man.

On his way back to his house,he was seen by a friend of his,

Ranganath. "Hello Dhanaraj,

what makes you so sad?" Ran-ganath asked.

"Brother! Do you know ifdiamonds would grow in theplant which would crop up if

1 sow jewels?" Dhanaraj askedhis friend.

Ranganath knew his friendwell. He said, "Of course, theygrow! But it is not enough to

sow the jewels, you have to doso while reciting some mantras."

"If you know the mantras,will you please teach them tome?" implored Dhanaraj.

"I know. But I cannot teachthem to you. If 1 do so, I shalldie!" answered Ranganath.Then he proposed to recite themantras on behalf of Dhanarajat midnight when they couldboth sow the jewels.

Dhanaraj agreed to the pro-posal. Ranganath came at mid-night. They took the jewels toDhanaraj' s garden and buriedthem, while Ranganath recitedsome nonsense."Soon there would crop up

the diamond plant. A fewmonths later you should dig itsroots. You would then finddiamonds grown, like potatoes!"said Ranganath. Needless to

say, he stole away all the jewelsand left the town very soon.

A few days later Dhanarajwas happy to see a plant comingup on the spot. Months passed.When the plant appeared bigenough, one night Dhanarajdug the earth below it andexamined its root. He wassurprised not to chance upona single diamond. But he was

not disappointed. He dug onand on. At last his spade struck

against something hard. Soonhe dug out a steel trunk andopened it. He was amazed tosee it filled with diamonds andrubies, and sapphires of thefinest varieties.

He carried the trunk toKeshav Gupta's house andshowed the content to him.

"My God! Where from didyou get all this?" asked Keshav.

"Why sir! I sowed the jewelsas advised by you. The plantproduced, not only these jewels,

but also this steel trunkP'Dhana-raj answered happily.

Keshav Gupta thought thatDhanaraj was joking with him.But he knew that the youngman had become the richestman in the country, although hedid not know how!

Keshav Gupta was too plea-sed to marry his daughter to

Dhanaraj and to guide him inbusiness. Under his care, Dhana-raj soon became an intelligenttrader.

FUN WITH SCIENCEThe Montgolfier brothers caused a

sensation when they launched their

hot-air balloon In 1783. But the

wonder Is that man had not realised

the power of heated air long before.

After all, people must have observed

what happened when paper fragments

were caught in rising air currents

above a fire.

However, here's fascinating experi-

ment to show you exactly how theMontgolfier balloon worked. You'll

need a length of thin dowel ind

two empty sugar bags. The diagram

will show you how to rig them up.Slide a piece of bent wire along the

dowel to serve as a ' rider' to equalise

the loads on either side of the point

of suspension. Now you're ready.

Making sure the dowel Is level, holdi lighted match beneath the mouthof one bag. Immediately, It will soargracefully.

The reason Is that hot air becomeslighter, for heat makes It expand and

become thinner.

SPOT THE TEN DIFFERENCES(Sorry, no clue anywhere in the Magazine)

>ROFESSOR FOXProf. Manoj Das

On the edge of a river, over-shadowed by a big bush, liveda tortoise with her three chil-

dren. The young ones, roundand soft, soon attracted theattention of a fox who lived intheTiearby forest.

One morning while strollingon the river-bank the fox gree-

ted the tortoise most genially

and asked, as if purely out of

courtesy, "Madame Tortoise,how is it that nowadays I don'tsee you as often I used to?"

"Mr. Fox, a lover of nature

though I am, I have very little

time for sightseeing now thatI have three toddlers to look

after," replied the tortoise.

"I am glad that you takeyour young ones so seriously.That is like an ideal mother.But tell me, what are you goingto do for their education?"

asked the fox.

"Education?" fumbled the

tortoise. "Well, to be frank. I

had never given any thoughtto that!"

"I thought so. That is where

most of the mothers err," obser-

ved the fox gravely. ."They pam-per their kids all right, but donothing more and just look onas the young ones grow up into

the same stupid beings of them-selves. I shudder to think of

the future of our forest which

was once proud of many ascho larly animal." The foxsighed.

The tortoise became verythoughtful and she implored thefox to shed some light on theprospect of educating her kids.

The fox said, "You see, it islong since I gave up my pro-fessorship. All my pupils arenow holding prestigious posi-tions in the administration of

the forest, in the service of the

king lion. However, since youare my neighbour, 1 will under-take to educate your children.

Come on, hand them over tome."

The tortoise led her youngones to the residence of the

fox which was a spacious hole

a furlong away and returnedbeaming with hope.

That very night the fox ate

up one of the toddlers and

when the mother tortoise wentto look them up the next day,

he brought only one youngtortoise out of his hole at i time

and that he did three times.

The mother tortoise returned

happy. And when she paid avisit again the next day, al-

though there was only one todd-

ler surviving, the fox brought

tt out three times and she retur-

ned satisfied.

But the fox had nothing toshow to the mother tortoise thenext day. He, of course, prom-ptly bluffed her, saying that the

pupils had been sent to hiselder brother, who was the direc-tor of public instruction in the

forest, for higher education.

But while the tortoise wasreturning, a crow, who had seenthe fox munching her youngones, asked her derisively, "Atwhat price did you sell yourkids to the fox?"

"Sold?" she scoffed, "It isfor education, my dear crow, itis for the future of the forest

that I have entrusted my boysto the professor fox!" she said

proudly.

The crow cried out a whoopeewhich could be a laugh or acry and then to the bewilderedtortoise he narrated what thehypocrite fox had really doneto her children.

The tortoise, mad with fury,went to destroy the fox. Butthe fox gave her the slip. Thetortoise could do nothing morethan shrieking and abusinghim for a full hour while thefox quietly swallowed them froma safe distance with a villanous

grin.

But the tortoise was deter-mined to take revenge. One day,

le the fox was crossing theriver, she caught him by oneof his legs under the water.The fox giggled and said, "Whata fun! How confidently thetortoise bites a stick of bamboothinking that it was my leg!"The tortoise at once let go

the fox's leg and the fox jumpedto the shore. Only then thetortoise realised her mistake.

Several hours passed. But

the tortoise kept up her vigil.

When the fox appeared on theriver-bank again, she swumclose to the surface of the

water, waiting to catch himwhen he would cross the river.

But the fox dilly-dallied. After

waiting for a long time the

tortoise floated up in order to

see what the matter was with

the fox. At once the fox hopped

on to his back and in another

bounce crossed to the other

side, before she had realised

what he was doing.This was too much. The

tortoise swum back to her shel-ter and hiding herself fromothers shed bittei tears.

"I can understand your

agony," said a kind voice.

The tortoise looked up. It wasthe crow. "I will help you topunish the wicked fox. Now,do as I say. While sitting on

the queen's window this mor-ning, I gathered that she plan-

ned to come to bathe in theriver this evening, for it is

going to be a full-moon night.When the queen will be neck-deep in water, swim near herstealthily and hang on to hernecklace. To get rid of you, shewill take off her necklace. Assoon as she does that, slipaway and see what happensthereafter," said the crow.

The tortoise agreed to act accor-dingly.

Soon af'er the moonrise thequeen, accompanied by hermaids, came to the river. Herbodyguards waited near her be-jewelled palanquin, off the river-

bank.

As soon as the queen was

neck-deep in the water, the

tortoise hung to her diamondnecklace. Aghast, she pulled

the necklace off her neck and

although the tortoise slipped

away instantly, she gave out ashriek and threw it on to the

bank. Immediately the crowswooped down and picking upthe necklace, flew away. Thequeen's maids raised a hue and

cry. At that the bodyguards

rushed to the bank and saw the

crow flying away with the neck-lace, the diamond beads glit-tering like a garland of stars.

They ran raising their clubs and

swords and shouting to scare

the crow to drop the precious

necklace. But the crow flew on,

never too fast or high, but

never coming within the reachof their arms, till he reached

the spot where the fox resided.

He then dropped the necklaceinto the hole, in full sight of

the queen's men, and flew awayto the safety of a tall tree.

The guards stood around thehole and one of them thrust hissword into it. The scared foxcame out instantly. The guardslost no time in bringing downtheir heavy clubs on his back.He fell dead, but not beforegiving out a piercing howl whichthe tortoise could hear from theriver.

Before the guards had retur-ned to the queen with the neck-lace the crow announced to thegleeful tortoise the tragic endof the professor fox I

THE SIXTH THIEFHundreds of years ago onceit so happened that the peopleof Ujjain were harassed by a

gang of thieves for a longstretch of time. The king'sguards failed to bring them tobook however hard they tried.One day all the wealthy peopleof the town went to the durbarand requested the king to makesome special effort to stop themenace. " It will be done!"

said the king with determina-

tion.

The very night the king wentout of the palace in disguise.

He saw four persons under atree. He went over to themstraight and said, '* I am as ablea thief as you are. But workingalone is rather hard. Better 1

join you. Tell me, what are

your special virtues?""

I can dig through any wall

however strong," said one thief." I can understand the langu-

age of birds and animals," saidthe second.

" Without opening a box Ican say what it contains," said

the third." Once 1 have known a man

by his voice, I can recognise

him even when his appearancechanges or even if I do not seehim for many years," said thefourth.

Thereafter the thieves asked

the king, " You want to joinour company. What specialvirtue do you have?"

" Those with me would never

be punished with death by the

king," said the king.

Then the five prepared to go

to work. " Where do we gotonight?" one of them asked." Let us go to the palace,"

proposed the king. " That's an

excellenl idea," agreed the

others.

They soon reached the palace.

The first one began to dig a

hole in the wall. Suddenly they

heard a jackal howling.

"What does it say?" theking asked the second thief." It says that the master of

the house is awake," replied

the thief.

A little later an owl hooted.

The king called for the meaningof the hooting. The secondthief said, " It says that the

master of the house is observ-

ing us!"

The four thieves were sur-prised. Just then they heard

two dogs barking.

" What do the dogs mean?"asked the king.

" The first dog advises us toget away. The second dog asksthe first to keep quiet!" ex-

plained the second thief." Better we go back," one of

the four thieves suggested.

" Don't be afraid. Let usfinish the work we have begun.

I smell no danger," said the

king.

The four thieves did not wantto prove themselves cowaids

before their new companion.So they agreed to continue.

Soon the hole opened upinto a room where they foundsix heavy boxes. The thirdthief looked at them and an-nounced, " We are lucky.These are loaded with gold andsapphires and diamonds!"They were five in all. Each

took a box. The sixth box wasleft outside the wall. Before

dispersing they decided about

the place of their next meeting.

The king retired to his chamber.

Early in the morning thepalace guard, on his usualround, found out the hole andthe box. First he carried the

box to his home. Then heinformed the palace managerabout the theft and then bothreported to the king that six

precious boxes had been stolen.

The king at once knew whothe sixth thief was. But he

said, " Don't worry. All the

thieves would be caught to-

night"

At night when the four thievescollected at the appointed place,

the king's guards overpowered

them and led them to the dur-

bar. The king passed order

that they be hanged.

The moment the king spoke,the fourth thief could recognise

him. He said, "Your High-ness! We had yet another friendwith us last night. He hadassured us that no death penalty

could be passed against us. If

I help you to catch him, will

you hang him too?"

The king smiled and said," Your fifth friend will keephis word. You shall not behanged." Turning to the sur-

prised courtiers, the king said.

" 1 was their companion lastnight. I free them from allpunishment. They can evenkeep those boxes. I will give

them jobs so that they canbegin a new life. But gentle-men, do you know who stolethe sixth box? Our trustedpalace guard himself!"

The palace guard stood trem-bling, pale as a ghost. Theking's officers searched his house

and recovered the sixth box.The king banished him from hiskingdom, for he had betrayedthe faith the king had vestedin him.

In a train, a man asked hi* fellow- passenger, "I know the distancebetween Madras and Delhi, but I do not know the distance between Delhiand Madras. Can you tell me?"

"Any fool knows that the distance between Delhi and Madras Is thesame as the distance between Madras and Delhi!" said the fellow-passenger.

In that case I am not i fool. It is a week from Christmas to New YearBut is it a week from New Year to Christmas V

"Can you help uswith ropes?" asked thePrincess. "Yes, but on con-dition that you play a gamewith me," said Bappa."What game!" enquired thePrincess. "Game of marry-ing me!" replied Bappa. Agame is a game. The Prin-cess agreed. The maidsunited their hands andadorned them with flowers.

To the Princess and hermaids, it was a mock-marri-age, a play. But to Bappa,it was a true marriage.Thereafter Bappa procuredenough ropes for the Prin-cess and her maids to swingto their hearts' content.When it was evening, theydispersed, the Princess retir-ing to her palace and Bappareturning to his foster-parents' hut.

A few years later the Kingof Nagindra proposed hisdaughter's marriage withthe prince of a neighbour-ing kingdom. But he gotthe shock of his life whenthe astrologer, studying thehoroscope of the Princess,declared that the Princesswas already married tosomeone!

The King stormed into hisqueen's apartment and de-manded an explanation forthis strange reading by theastrologer. The Princesswas summoned. She weptand narrated the incidentwith Bappa.

It was night when the King'ssoldiers went to capturethe audacious Bappa. Thesoldiers had got down fromtheir horses and had enteredBappa's hut. Bappa gotonto one of their horses andgalloped away. But beforeescaping he had learnt fromher foster-parents who hereally was.

Bappa reached Mewar, hismaternal uncle's fort- Justthen Mewar was underattack from another king.Mewar had no able com-mander. Bappa took overthe command and routedthe enemy. He succeededhis uncle to the throne ofMewar. Now the King ofNagindra was too happy toaccept the mighty youngking as his son-in-law. Thelegendary Bappa ruled forlong and conquered severallands beyond India.

A QUEEN'S FANCYLong long ago, an old kingruled over the land of Mani-roop. Unfortunately he had

nobody in the world except asmall granddaughter, namedMandaravallee.

When the granddaughter grewup, the old king made her theruler and himself led a retiredlife. But he told her, " Man-daravallee, get married soon,

so that you can have children

and our dynasty may not cometo an end."

But such was Mandaravallee's

temperament that she would not

tolerate anybody exercising anyauthority on her. When hergrandfather insisted on hermarrying, she said, '* If it is a

question of continuing the

family line, then I will marry,

but the choice of the bridegroom

is entirely mine."

She deliberately chose a sim-

pleton for her husband.

Though he was the husband ofa reigning queen, he had noposition whatever in the court.

Mandaravallee, the queen, never

cared to share the administra-

tion with him. The manseemed too meek and mild toimpose himself in any matter.

A year later the queen gavebirth to a girl. She was namedMala. The old king died soonafter the birth of this great-

granddaughter. But before

dying, he told Mandaravallee,

" Do not neglect to look for afit bridegroom for your daughterwhen it is time for that."When Mala grew up, several

princes of the neighbouring

kingdoms offered to marry her.But the queen rejected all the

proposals. She even insulted

some of the messengers whobrought such proposals. Thequeen had decided to get Malamarried with an imbecile so

that the husband will never playthe lord over her.

The prince of Madura,

Makaranda, heard about Mala's

beauty and wished to marry

her. But he also came to knowabout the queen's plan. Dis-

guised as an ordinary man, he

reached the Maniroop palaceand told the guards that he

desired to meet the queen.

With the queen's permission, he

was duly produced before her.

" What do you want?" askedthe queen.

" I want to marry theprincess," said Makaranda.

" But who are you?" askedthe queen.

" I am a very ordinary man.Wherever I find shelter, that

becomes my home," answeredthe prince.

The prince was handsome andhe looked quite innocent. The

queen found that there wasnothing wrong with the propo-sal. She said, " I don't mindmarrying my daughter to you.But I would like to make amatter clear. My daughterwould succeed me to the throne,not her husband. You have toremain obedient to her all yourlife. You cannot dominateover her."

Makaranda showed such anexpression that it appeared heaccepted the condition. Onlythe date of marriage remainedto be finalised.

But Mala's father secretly toldher, " My daughter, you arenot like your mother. You

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PHOTO CAPTION CONTEST

Mr. Anant Oesai Mr. Anant Deiai These two photographs are somewhat related. Can you think of suitable

captions? Could be single words, or several words, bui the two captions

must be related to each other.

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' Winning captions will be announced in MARCH issue

Write your entry on a POST CARD, specify (he month, give your fullname, address, age and post to:

PHOTO CAPTION CONTESTCHANDAMAMA MAGAZINE

MADRAS - 600 026.Result of Photo Caption Contest held in November issue

The Prize is awarded toMr. Athutosh R. Dhurandhar

334, Tth RoadKhar Sham Chhaya

Bombay - 51Winning Entry ' Hissing Glance ' " Sparkling Stance'

LUCKIn days gone by there was alandlord named Vijay Verma.He had a charming daughternamed Vijaya. On her sixteenthbirthday, her father made hera present of a beautiful ring.

It was, indeed, a priceless pre-

sent, for it belonged to Vijaya's

mother who was no more.One afternoon Vijaya was

enjoying boating in the river.

From time to time she put herhand into the river and playedwith the water. Once whiledoing so the ring slipped off her

finger.

Vijaya gave out a shriek.

The boatmen jumped into theriver and made several dives todiscover the ring, but in vain.

When the landlord heard

about the loss he was sad andangry. He told his daughter,"1 gave you the dearest posses-sion of mine. And you lost itin no time!"A few days later a young

man of the nearby village,Mahesh, met the landlord andproposed to marry Vijaya. Thelandlord had no doubt thatMahesh would make an excel-lent bridegroom. But his fore-

fathers had some enmity withthe forefathers of Mahesh andso he rejected the proposal.

"But Vijaya would be happyto marry me!" claimed Mahesh.The landlord asked Vijaya

if she had chosen Mahesh forher husband. "Yes, father,"said Vijaya shyly. But the land-

lord shouted with anger, "I

do not consider him the fitbridegroom for you. Hereby

1 declare that whoever can find

the lost ring, he shall win your

hand!"

As soon as the eligible youthsof the region heard about the

landlord's decision they madeseveral bids to find the ring.

It was a sight to see so many ofthem plunging into the river,

but coming up with pebbles or

dead shells, but no ring!

Mahesh did not join in therace. He was awfully hurtat the landlord's rude rejection

of his proposal.

One day, while Mahesh waswandering on the river-bankwith hjs bow for sport, hesuddenly spied upon a deer on

the opposite bank. He tookaim at the deer and shot an

arrow. Just then a big fish

bounced up above the water.The arrow pierced it, while thedeer disappeared inside the

forest.

Mahesh entered the waterand collected the dead fish andhis arrow and returned home."What a luck! I wanted a deer,but got a fish!" But when thefish was duly cut insideMahesh's kitchen, pop camethe lost ring of Vijaya out of it!

Mahesh forgot his frustrationand " lost no time in carryingthe ring to the landlord. Thelandlord, who was not veryhappy in his heart for his rudeconduct towards his daughterand Mahesh, was now too happyto welcome his would-be son-in-law.

Mahesh told himself, "Whata luck ! I wanted a deer butgot the bride of my heart!"

LOOKING AT FRUITS

countries It was found inJava by Captain Cook inDecember 1770 during his first

voyage. Among thirty-six varie-ties of fruit available there, he

described 'Grapefruit' in his log

book as 'Pumplemoeses' which

were called 'Shaddocks' namedafter another seaman, Captain

Shaddock who has locatedthese large sized fruit of the

citrus family abundantly avail-

able in the Malay Archipelago.The fruit has nutritional andmedicinal value in dietics.

In 1696, on the journey hometo England, he stopped at Bar-

bados and left seeds of the

fruit on the island. From theseseeds developed a species of

shaddock which varied from

the original. The evergreentrees, with their dark glossy

leaves and large, sweet scented

blossoms bore smaller round

fruit which were much morejuicy and had a thinner skin.

At first they were called 'Fruitof Paradise' but because they

grew in clusters of up to fifteen

like a bunch of grapes theycame to be known as grapefruit.

They were introduced intoFlorida in 1923 but after sixty

years they were cultivated on alarge scale in Arizona, Southern

Texas and then California.

By 1914 the grapefruit wasknown in Palestine now Israelas Jaffa variety. Grapefruit are

botanically classified as simple

berries are yellowish whenripe. Each fruit is formedfrom every single flower. Seedsare then formed which areprotected by juicy pulp but

due to intensive cultivation

many grapefruit are grownwithout either pollination or

fertilisation. This is one of the

results of growers continually

striving to produce betterstrains, with greater flavouisand

fewer or no pips, like the jaffavariety and some other outspangrape-fruit.

J

THE TRUE SONThere was a small village inthe outskirts of a forest. At

the end of the village lived an

old woman and her son, in asmall house.

The woman would go to theforest everyday and collect sticksand sell them in a market. Itwas with great difficulty that she

provided for herself and her son.Her son never cared for the

old mother's worries. He oftendemanded money from her.One day he was very angrybecause she could not satisfy

his needs. He left the housein a huff.

The woman was gettingweaker due to old age. Oneday, because of a strong wind,

she fell down and fainted insidethe forest.

A young man was passing by.When he saw the woman's con-dition, he fetched water from aspring and splashed it on herface. The woman opened hereyes.

Taking a long breath, sheasked the young man, " Whoare you, son?"

" I am an orphan. 1 amroaming about, looking for ajob," answered the young man.The woman stood up with

difficulty and tried to lift upthe bundle of sticks she had

collected. But the young mandid not allow her to do that."Let me carry it to your home.That would please me," he said.When they reached the

woman's home, she told him," My son! Stay in t

long as you have not founda job."

The young man agreed.Soon he began to assist thewoman in every work. He car-ried the sticks to the market.

With more time at her disposal,the woman was able to collectmore sticks. They lived ratherwell. Soon they were able tosave a little money.Suddenly one day the

woman's own son returned.He knew that his mother waswell-off now. He demandedmoney from her. But sherefused to give a single paisa.

The son quarrelled with theyoung man, although the latterwas kind to him and advisedhim to join their work. Theson's only thought was how todrive away the young man.One day when both the boys

were out of the house, the

woman hid whatever money shehad saved in a secret place andmade a hole on the floor of thehouse and scattered the uten-sils. When the boys returnedshe cried out, " All my moneyhas been taken away by thieves t"

" You have been served right.You refused even a paisa tome. Now see what happened!1 hate to stay with you evenfor a moment more!" declaredher son and left.

The other young man said," Mother! Do not feel sad.Such tlungs happen to so manypeople. We had ourselvesearned the money. We willearn it again!"

" My boy ! Our money is safe.I just wanted my son to stoppestering me. I am happy thathe has left. You are my trueson."

Too sure of others' Ignorancepal, "Can 1 help you in anyway?""We will be grateful to you,

my lord, if you send us at leasttwo bright boys to study here.We are not having many stu-dents," said the principal.

"All right, 1 will very soonsend two brilliant boys to you,"said the duke. But turning tohis brother, he chuckled andsaid in French, "We will sendtwo donkeys to the academy!"He was too sure that the princi-pal did not know French!

After taking refreshments

the guests prepared to depart.While giving them farewell, theprincipal said with a smile, "Mylord, as a mark of our respectfulmemory of your visit, we willname the two students you sendafter you and your brother!"*

This happened long ago. Acertain English duke wasinvited to pay a visit to an

academy. The academy wasrun by the people of a particular

religious faith and those whoread there were given lessons

in that religion. It so happened

that the duke's religious faith

was different from that of the

academy. Not only that, hehated the people who ran theacademy.

But for the sake of civility,

he could not have refused the

invitation. On the appointedday he visited the academy,

accompanied by his brother.

They were warmly received by

the principal and the staff and

were shown around theacademy. As a matter of cour-tesy, the duke asked the princi-

A WOMAN'SMAGIC BOX

In a certain village lived anold widow named Dhania. Sheused to sit in her veranda andsell greens and vegetables whichother women of the villagegathered. At the end of theday they divided the profit

among themselves.People thought that Dhania

had accumulated a lot of wealth

although the fact was that shewas quite poor.

A time came when the villa-gers were scared of a daring

thiefwho stealthily entered somehouse or the other at night andtook away whatever valuableshe could get at hand. Thevillage headman announced thatif anybody could help to catch

the thief, he would be amplyrewarded.

Poor Dhania said to herself,"How much I wish that thethief should enter my house!I have nothing to lose. YetGod willing, if I could helpcapture the thief, I would getsuch a handsome reward!"

Thus, while other villagersprayed that the thief should notvisit them, the old widow prayedthat the thief should. visit her!

At last, one night, the thiefentered her house. She wasluckily awake. Very sweetly

she said, "My son! Have youcome?"

The thief was taken aback.Dhania continued, "You will

now take charge of your wealth,won't you ? Come on, measureand count. Your wealth musthave got doubled!"

The thief could not under-stand anything. However, hewaited, for, curiosity got the

better of him.

The woman lit a lamp andbrought it near -the thief's face

and exclaimed, "What a blun-der I was making! You arenot the thief who deposited hiswealth in my magic box! Butyou have come hearing all aboutthe box, isn't it so? please

excuse me. I cannot tell you

anything about it. If the villa-gers come to know about it, Iwill lose my box. Also, theymay hang me for befriendingthieves!"

"I have not heard anythingfrom anybody about your box,but please tell me all about it,"the thief implored her.

"It is like this: I have astrange box with me. If stolenproperty is kept in it, the pro-

perty will become doubled bythe next night. Last night

a thief deposited whatever

wealth he had stolen over thepast months. Now it is doubled,"said the lady as she opened herbox. She had kept some cheap

gilded ornaments and falsecoins in it. The thief was ama-zed to see them.

"Listen, you good old lady!Since you have been pleased

to show me your magic box,allow me to enjoy its benefitat least once. Tomorrow nightI will bring some little wealthI have been able to gather.

Please allow me to place themin your box. I will come andcollect them the next night, ofcourse, after giving you a fairshare of it," proposed the thief.

Dhania pretended to showreluctance, but said, "All right,

let it be so. But it will be only

for once, mind you!"

The thief went away, thankingher profusely.

Dhania met the village head-man in the morning and con-fided to him all that had happe-ned. The headman arrangedfor some strong and stout villa-gers to remain in hiding inside

and around Dhania's house.The thief came at midnight,

carrying with him all the valua-

bles and money he had latelystolen from various houses of

that village as well as the nearby

villages. While he was placing

them 1 in Dhania's magic box,the villagers pounced upon himand captured him.

Dhania was duly rewardedby the headman. People whohad lost their valuables now gotthem back from Dhania's magicbox!

In nature there are no rewards or punishments; there

are consequences. HoKact A. Vackel

37

Who does not love his ownvoice? So did Narada, thefamous sage who wanders bet-ween heaven and earth, often

running errands for the great

God Vishnu.Beyond the Himalayas are

[he Meru mountains. Only thegreatest of sages and gods visit

that regionand that too veryrarely.

One day Narada was merrilysinging to himself and playing

his Veena as he passed throughthe Meru. Suddenly, a strangesight met his eyes: A numberof men and women, all extremelyhandsome, lay scattered on theground, each one of them in-jured.

Narada stopped and enquiredwho they were and who hadinjured them. But they wouldnot say anything easily. WhenNarada insisted on getting ananswer and refused to depart

without it, one of them dis-closed, "We are Ragas andRaginis. That is to say, we arethe spirits of the various styles

of music. We lie here injuredbecause you musicians sing soimperfectly!"

Narada hung his head. How-ever, he soon recovered and

said, "I assure you, so far as

1 am concerned, I will neversing a raga again unless I amsure that I had mastered itperfectly. But I cannot be in

peace unless your wounds healup. The question is how theywould heal up!"

"There is only one way forthat," said one of those godly

beings, "Only if we can hearthe most perfect singer sing!""Who is the most perfect

singer?" queried Narada.

"Who but Shiva!" repliedthe Raga.

Narada hurried to Shiva onMount Kailash and requestedhim to sing for sake of the tor-

mented Ragas and Raginis."You know, I love to keep'

silent through ages. But I will

sing provided I get the most

perfect listeners!" said Shiva.

"Who are they?" asked thecurious Narada.

"Who but Vishnu andBrahma!" replied Shiva.

When Vishnu and Brahmawere informed that Shiva hadagreed to sing, they were too

glad to come over to Kailashto have the privilege of listening

to him. Also came the Ragasand Raginis.

Shiva began to sing. Indes-cribable was his art. As hewent on, the wounds of theRagas and Raginis were foundhealing up rapidly.

BuJ something most un-expected was noticed byBrahma. Vishnu listened withsuch absolute love that he be-came one with the music andwith the flow of the music, hisbody too began to flow away,melting.

Brahma lost no time inarresting the flow and putting

it all into his Kamandalu, the

hand-pot. This melted body ofVishnu was the Ganga, which

later came out of Brahma's potand sanctified heaven, theearth and the patala or thenether-world. No wonder thatGanga should be considered sosacred. For it is the melted

body of Vishnu.

How Ganga came out ofBrahma's pot is a differentstory, which we will tell youanother time.

MOTIVE IS THE THING

There was a villager whoseonly ambition in life was tobecome rich. He tried hard toincrease his income by putting

forth more labour in his work.But it did not yield muchsuccess. While on his death-bed, he called his only son andsaid, " Look here, my boy, Ihad only one dream in life andthat was to become wealthy.But all I have been able to save

is a couple of mohurs. Takethese and try to use these pro-perly so that they would go onincreasing, making you wealthy.Maybe, that would make mehappy even after death!"

After the man's death, his

son, Shriman, invested the two

mohurs in a small business andtried heart and soul to make thebest out of them. He suc-ceeded. Soon he became anaffluent trader.

In a few years he found that

if he must prosper further, then

he must shift his business to the

town. He did that and soonproved himself cleverer than

established merchants of the

town.

One season there was failureof crop in the land. .Rice had

to be collected from far awaycountries. Consequently, rice

sold at a very high price

.

Common people were obligedto borrow money from the mer-chants who charged hie

of interest. But Shriman, sad

at the plight of the people,

began to lend them money atvery low interest. He chargedno interest at all in cases of

poor people.

The rich money-lenders of thetown were angry at this. They

decided to borrow all Shriman's

money at low interest themselves

so that Shriman had nothing

left with him to give to the

poor. But when they appro-

ached him, he demanded a veryhigh interest from them.The money-lenders appeared

before the king and complained," O King, there is a merchantin our town, named Shriman,who is demanding different ratesof interest from different people.

This is wrong. He should bepunished for sake of justice."

The king did not give out hisopinion immediately. Disguised

as a rich man he went toShriman's house and wanted

to borrow a large sum of money.Shriman quoted a high rate of

interest. The king did notagree to it and returned.Next day the king summoned

Shriman to his court and said," Those who do business inmoney-lending, they charge a

certain fixed rate of interest

from all. To charge different

rates is wrong and against trieconvention. I approached y^u,

disguised, for some mo-neyyesterday. You demanded aheavy interest from me. But 1have heard that many peopleborrow from you withouthaving to pay any interest atall! If this is true, what is yourexplanation?,"

" O king, it is true that I fixdifferent rates for different bor-

rowers. But I do no wrong.If you think deeply, you willrealise the truth of my claim,"answered Shriman.

After Shriman departed, theking consulted his ministers onthe issue for a long time. But

they could not decide whether

what Shriman did was wrongor not. According to rule, onecould not charge different prices

for the same commodity fromdifferent customers. Then howcan one charge different ratesof interest? The ministersargued, finally.

What the ministers said wasquite logical. But the king wasnot satisfied. He threw thequestion at others : " It is proved

that Shriman is wrong. Now,can anyone prove that Shriman

was right?"" I can," claimed the king's

only child, the princess, "Ifyou agree to give me whateverreward I ask of you!"" You will be granted what-

ever you demand, my sweetdaughter," said the king.

" Listen, O father. Thereare various levels of morality

and truth. At the ordinary

level, it is wrong to charge dif-ferent rates from differentparties. But here we have tosee the "motive of the parties.

The poor borrow in order tosurvive the hard times. SoShriman asks little interest from

them. The rich planned to bor-row at small interest in order toloan out the same money tothe poor at higher interest.Shriman wanted to foil this

nefarious scheme of the greedymoney-lenders. So, he acted

from a higher scale of morality.He has done the right thing."The king was thoroughly satis-

fied. He asked, *' Now, whatis the reward you want?"

It so happened that the prin-cess loved Shriman for a longtime, silently in her heart. Thereward she wanted now was tomarry him. It was granted!

Yudhishthira entertained the

sages to a grand feast and, on

behalf of Krishna, bestowed

several gifts on them. He thensent Parikshit to Kripacharya

to become the latter' s pupil.

He then announced to his minis-ters that he was undertaking a

journey spiritual, never to return.

Thereafter the Pandavas and

Draupadi put off their royal

garments and ornaments and

put on dresses made out ofbarks.

Innumerable people collected

to have a glimpse of them whenthe time for their departure

came. The people rememberedanother such sad occasion.

That was when the Pandavashad left for exile. The womenin the crowd wept and wailed.

But the Pandavas were notmoved at all.When the Pandavas crossed

the city, a dog was seen follow-ing them. Several citizens tried

to dissuade them from pro-ceeding to their unknown desti-nation, but in vain.

After the Pandavas andDraupadi left, Uloopi enteredthe Ganga and Chitrangadareturned to Manipur, her paren-tal home. Other wives of thePandavas remained with Parik-

shit.

The Pandavas proceeded east-ward. They crossed many ariver and passed through manya land. Arjuna was still carry-ing with him his famous bow,the Gandiva. But when theyreached the seashore, suddenly

Agnideva, the God of Fire,appeared before them like aluminous mountain and said," Listen O Pandavas, Arjunahas no need of the Gandiva any

more. He should now surren-der it to Varuna from whom ithad come."

His brothers too prevailed on

Arjuna lo give up the weapon.

Arjuna, accordingly, threw it

into the sea. Agnideva dis-

appeared.

Along the seacoast the Pan-

davas walked southward before

turning to the north. They

saw Dwaraka submerged underthe sea. Then they reached theHimalayan region and soon

crossea it, approaching theMeru mountains.While they walked, Draupadi

fell down on the road, dead.Bhima informed Yudhishthiraabout it. But Yudhishthira didnot look back.

A little later Sahadeva loo felldown. Then came the turnsof Nakula and Arjuna, oneafter the other. Bhima dulyinformed Yudhishthira about

them. But Yudhishthira didnot look back. He remainedcalm even when Bhima himselffell down and announced of hisapproaching death.

Thus, all his dear ones

dropped down while Yudhish-thira continued to walk, fol-

lowed by the dog.

Soon Indra, with his chariot,appeared before him and wel-comed him into it. But Yudhi-shihirii told him, " All mybrothers as well as Draupadi

who are dead must ascend toheaven with me. I cannot pro-

ceed there without them."" Their spirits have already

passed on to the sphere where

they ought to have gone. Youalone can go to heaven without

having to leave your body.

Please come with me," saidIndra.

" This dog has followed me

faithfully through all the tra-

vails of the way. He too mustbe allowed to ascend to heaven.

1 cannot go there without him,"

said Yudhishthira again." You are to be received into

heaven because your virtues areequivalent to those of mine. Howcan a dog enter heaven? Pleasedo not put forth such an im-

possible condition," pleaded

Indra.

But Yudhishthira remained

adamant. While the dialoguecontinued, the dog suddenly gotchanged into Yama, the God ofDeath and Dharma.

"I had tested you, disguised

as a Yaksha, while you lived in

exile in the forest. I have tested

you again. It is hard to findyour equal even in heaven.

You certainly deserve to gothere along with your body,"

said Yama.A number of other gods came

forward to welcome Yudhish-thira to heaven. They all begantheir return journey in their

respective chariots." Many great souls have

entered heaven, but none haddone so while in his body,"observed the sage Narada.

" But I am not happy, for,my brothers are not with me,"regretted Yudhishthira.

"O King! Your work on

earth has ended. Why don'tyou forget all about your earthly

relations? Let me be frank withyou. Your brothers have notbeen able to pass on to heaven.

You see, heaven is meant onlyfor gods and very great souls!"

said Indra." But I cannot dwell here

without my brothers. I willrather go where my brothersand Draupadi have gone,"

insisted Yudhishthira.

A great surprise awaitedYudhishthira. He saw Duryo-dhana dwelling in heaven in allsplendouT amidst the luminous

gods. Yudhishthira failed to

understand how a character with

such a long record of misdeeds

could occupy a place there. Hemurmured, " 1 have least desireto live in a sphere where evenDurvodhana could finda place!"" O King! Your old impres-

sions and ideas do not hold anygood here in heaven. Didn'tDuryodhana die a hero'sdeath?" said Narada, smiling.

" If Duryodhana, with all hissinful actions, could dwell in

heaven, what about my bro-thers and Drustadyumna andAbhimanyu and the Upapan-davas, who had always adheredto justice?" Yudhishthira asked.

Yudhishthira's bewilderment

increased when he could neithersee Kama nor many a virtuousking who had helped him inthe war with faith in the princi-ples of truth. Then the godstold him, " If you want to seethem, you have to descend totheir region. Follow this guide

if you so desire!"Yudhishthira followed the

guide and soon came to a roadwhich was dark, difficult, full of

worms and flies, and nauseat-ing things like rotten flesh or

skeletons scattered on it. Dis-

gusted, Yudhishthira asked," How long must we keepwalking?"

" If you are tired, O King,

lei us go back. This is a long,

long, way, with even moreghastly sights to meet your

eyes!" said the guide.

Yudhishthira felt disap-

pointed. He was brooding overhis course of action when heheard some moaning voices,

"O King! Please stay here fora while. Your presence givesus peace."

" Who are you?" asked thesurprised Yudhishthira.

"Iam Kama!" **I am Bhima!""

I am Arjuna!" " I amNakula!" " I am Sahadeva!""

1 am Draupadi!" said thehost of voices.

-Yudhishthira felt deeply dis-

tressed. He said to himself," What is the strange lawoperating here? How can sin-ners dwell in heaven while the

virtuous are doomed to lie inthis terrible sphere ? Am Jdreaming? Or, have I turnedmad?"Then he said to his guide,

" You may now return toheaven. Tell the gods that I

will prefer to be here, since mypresence gives my brothers alittle relief."

The guide departed and reach-ing heaven, reported everything

to Indra.

Soon Indra and other godsappeared before Yudhishthira.

As they arrived, the awful dark-ness was gone. The place wasfull of heavenly fragrance car-

ried by sweet breeze. Themoaning of invisible spirits was

heard no more." Yudhishlhira! Now be

pleased to return with us. Thephase of gloom through which

you were required to pass is

now over. Your brothers aswell as Draupadi have all goneto heaven by now. The law islike this: Everybody has tosuffer the consequences of his

sin, however little, as everybodywill be rewarded for his virtue.

If the reward for the virtue is

enjoyed first, the consequence

for the sin will come later.Those who have very little sin,they are made to suffer the hellfirst. Those who have verylittle virtue, they are allowed

to enjoy heaven first. Theperiod of suffering in case of

your dear ones has already

ended and they have gone overto heaven. For some slighterrors you had made in yourlife, you had to see and feel thehell for a while. Now you canbe in heaven, along with your

dear ones. You were worriedabout Kama. Be sure that hetoo is already in heaven. Youare greater than many a greatsoul. So, you will be in thecompany of the souls of Harish-chandra, Mandhata and Bhagi-ratha. Look, yonder flows theGanga of the heaven. Onceyou have a dip in it, your earthly

consciousness will entirely

vanish."

Yudhishthira entered the

Ganga of the heaven and gaveup his body in her water. Thenhe went over to his brothers.There he met Krishna who wasstill in the form which he hadon earth. Arjuna was with himand they received Yudhishthirawith joy.

Kama too could be seen.He looked as luminous as thesun. Elsewhere was Bhima,among the Maruttas. Nakulaand Sahadeva too could soonbe seen.

Thereafter I nd ra showedDraupadi, her sons, Dhritara-

shtra, Abhimanyu, Pandu,Kunti, Madri, Bhishma, Dronaand other heroes to Yudhish-thira and told him all abouttheir destiny.

CONCLUDED

WHY DOES THE CHAMELEONCHANGE ITS COLOUR?

Below the skin of Che Chameleonare cells which have granules thatgive a white colour by reflecting

light. Other cells are full of oijdrops and seem yellow, whilethere are a number that have areddish or brown pigment. Bychanging the setting of its skin,

the Chameleon is able to form acolour pattern to match that ofthe surroundings. It is Nature's

way of helping the little creatureto hide from its enemies.

WONDER WITH COLOURS

WISER THAN THE PUNDIT

Once upon a time there was afamous astrologer in Vijaya-

nagar. There was no book ofastrology which he had notstudied. Even kings of far awaylands consulted him beforeundertaking any importantwork. His predictions aboutmarriage, war, epidemics andother such events rarely wentwrong. All were full of hispraise.

The astrologer had a greatlove for agriculture. When hewas not wandering about, he

was in his fields, supervising

farming.,

One afternoon the astrolo-ger's servants were cleansing

and measuring the corns in his

field. He was looking on.Just then Ballu the washermanhappened to pass by. Heshouted at the astrologer, " Pun-ditji, arrange to carry the corns

to your house as soon as pos-sible. There will be a storm

after the sunset."

The astrologer laughed andsaid, " How can there be astorm today, you fellow! Southwind is blowing now. Thereisn't even a patch of cloud in

the whole sky. Besides, I knowall about the influences of the

heavenly bodies on the earth at

the moment. They do not indi-cate rain!"

" Punditji, I don't knowabout your heavenly bodies,

swept away. His servants ran

helter-skelter seeking shelter.

The astrologer thought

:

" Only if I had paid heed to the

washerman's warning, my cornswould have been saved. Butthe question is, how did thewasherman know about the im-pending storm? He must haveheard it from someone who ismore learned than myself. Butwho is that person? I must goto the washerman and enquireabout it."

The storm subsided by morn-

ing. The astrologer hurried tothe washerman's hut and asked

him, " Well, Ballu, I was a foolto poohpooh your warning. I

nor do I care. But I warnyou, it is going to rain soonafter the sunset. Take care ifyou please !" said Ballu andwent away.

"Fool!" muttered the astro-loger, " He is teaching me aboutrain and all that!" He askedhis workers to forget the washer-

man and go on gathering andmeasuring the corns.

But no sooner had the sundisappeared than the sky be-

came dark. Before the astro-loger had realised the situationa terrific storm broke out.

Along with frequent lightningand thunder, a fierce wind blew.The astrologer's corns were

feel so ashamed! But tell me,who is the learned man whopredicted the storm to you?"

" Learned man?" laughed thewasherman as he pointed hisfinger at his donkey. " See,

Punditji, hours before a storm,

the donkey suddenly begins toshiver. It brings its legs closer

and hides its tail between itsrear legs. Observing my don-key doing so, 1 knew that astorm was approaching."

" But is this not strange?"

asked the astrologer, " How cana donkey know what we scholarsdo not know?"

" That is not for me to say!"commented the washerman," The cock crows before thesunrise without fail. Does ithave a clock? Birds and animals,

sir, have their own way ofknowing the coming events."

The astrologer stood therepraising the washerman's simple

explanation.

The servants who were wit-nesses to the accuracy of the

washerman's prediction, began

to tell, " Our washerman iswiser than the astrologer!"

When the people asked thewasherman about it, he said," No* I, my donkey is wiserthan the astrologer!"

When people asked the astro-loger about it, he smiled and

said, " Nature is wiser than me.

Donkey expressed something ofthat nature. All animals, all

men, express something or the

other of the universal nature!"

Moke sure of your copy of Chandamama by

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OOD FOR THE YOGI

Long ago, in the city ofSimhapura lived a Yogi with a

few disciples. He was held inhigh esteem not only by the

common people, but also bythe king of the land. When-ever the king felt disturbed

in mind, he approached the

Yogi. The Yogi gave him somegood advice and that restored

peace in his mind." O great sage, I see that you

and your disciples wander from

door to door begging for food.

But that is not necessary.

Please come and stay near mypalace. I will cater for all your

needs," proposed the king one

day." That is not possible, my

son," replied the Yogi, " For 1

am under the vow that I musttake some trouble to collect

my food. 1 must wander fromdoor to door."

The king passed the orderthat whenever the Yogi or his

disciples would approach some-

body for alms, he must give

alms to the best of his ability.

This made the Yogi's work veryeasy. He got plenty. Severalvagabonds of the land styled

themselves as his disciples and

lived and moved about withhim merrily.

One day the Yogi stood be-fore a wine shop. The shop-keeper greeted him and said," O sage, please come in. ButI have nothing except wine to

offer to you!"

The Yogi entered the shop,smiling, and when the shop-keeper gave him a potful of

wine, he drank it, first uttering," Lord! I offer this to Thou!"

When the disciples saw theirmaster drinking the wine, they

too began to drink to their

hearts' content.

Needless to say, most of themsoon lost control over them-

selves and behaved riotously.

The news reached the king.He felt disgusted and angry.He asked the palace guards toturn away the Yogi if he evercame to see him.

All the people heard about

the incident. They also heardhow the king's attitude towardsthe Yogi had changed com-pletely. They stopped showingrespect to the Yogi. The Yogiand his disciples had often to

go without or with very little

food. Naturally, all the false

disciples deserted him.

A few days passed. TheYogi, while wandering, one day

stopped before a goldsmith's

workshop.

The goldsmith chuckled andsaid. " O sage, all I have isboiling melted gold. Will you

like to drink a cup of it?"

" Why not!" said the Yogiwith his characteristic smile.

The goldsmith, in order to seethe fun, handed over a cup of

hot melted gold to him. TheYogi accepted it quietly anduttered, " O Lord! I offer thisto Thou!" and gulped it!

He then thanked the gold-smith and wenf away.

The goldsmith almost faintedwith surprise. The news spreadas fast as sound. The king heardthis too. He now understoodthe power of the Yogi. He ranto the Yogi and said, " I nowrealise that wine or poison or

fireall is same to you. Ogreat soul ! Pardon me forhaving misunderstood you."

Ploying it right.