Story 18 - The Three Questions

^[1]

IN a certain country, as a man was going through the middle of a city he met a man of the city, and asked him,

“In what manner does the King of this city rule ?”

The man said,

“It does not appear to us that he has any fault.”

Then the man said [sarcastically]:

“Does the King of this city know these three matters—the centre of this country, the number of the stars in the sky, and the work which the King of the world of the Devas ^[2] does ?”

Having asked this, that wicked man went through the midst of the city.

Afterwards, the man of the city came to the palace, and declared to the King that there were three matters regarding which a man had wanted information. After he had informed him, the King asked,

“What are the three matters ?”

The man said,

“The centre of the country, the number of the stars in the sky, and the work which the King of the world of the Devas does; these three matters,”

he said.

Then the King, having caused the Ratemahatmayas— (the highest provincial Chiefs)—to be told that he ordered them to come, after he had asked them concerning these three matters, the Chiefs said that they could not tell him the answers. When they said that, the king commanded that the Ratemahatmayas should be beheaded. Thereupon the executioners came and beheaded them.

After that, he caused the Adikaramas—(the Ministers)— to be brought, and asked them if they knew these three matters. Those persons also said that they could not explain them. He commanded that party also to be beheaded, and the executioners came and beheaded them. Having beheaded all the people of both parties, there remained still the Royal Preceptor ^[3] only, so he caused the Royal Preceptor to be brought, and asked him regarding these matters.

Then the Royal Preceptor said,

“I cannot tell you about them to-day. I will tell you to-morrow.”

After he had said this he returned to his house, and having come there, lying down prone on the bed he remained without speaking a word.

The youth who looked after the Royal Preceptor's goats came at that time, and asked,

“For what reason are you lying down, Sir ?”

The Royal Preceptor said,

“They beheaded the Adika-rama party and the Ratemahatmaya party to-day ; they will behead me to-morrow. The post that I have told thee of [under the executioner] will be made over to one’s self.”

The youth said,

“Lord, you must tell me the reasons for it.”

The Royal Preceptor replied,

“If I should be, unable to-morrow to say which is the centre of the country, the number of the stars, and the work which the God of the world of the Devas does, they will behead me to-morrow.”

Then the youth said,

“Are you so much troubled about that ? I will say those very things for you.”

Afterwards, at the time when the Royal Preceptor, on the morning of the following day, was setting off to go to the palace, he called the youth, and went with him to the palace. The King asked for the answers to these three sayings. Then the Royal Preceptor said,

“ What is there in these for me to tell you ? Even the youth who looks after the goats for me knows those three sayings.”

Then he told the youth to come forward, and the youth came near the King.

The King asked,

“Dost thou know the centre of the country, and the number of the stars, and the work which the God of the world of the Devas does ?”

The youth fixed a stick in the ground, and showed it.

“Behold ! Here is the centre of one’s country. Measure from the four quarters, and after you have looked at the account, if it should not be correct be good enough to behead me,”

he said. The King lost over that.

Then he told him to say the number of the stars in the sky. Throwing down on the ground the goat-skin that he was wearing,

“Count these hairs, and count the stars in the sky. Should they not be equal be good enough to behead me,”

he said. The King lost over that also.

Thirdly, he told him to say what work the God of the world of the Devas does.

The youth said,

“I will not say it thus.”

The King asked,

“If so, how will you say it ?”

The youth said,

“Should you decorate me with the Royal Insignia, and put on me the Crown, and give the Sword into my hands, and place me on the Lion-throne, I will say it.”

Then the King, having caused that youth to bathe, and having decorated him, placed him upon the Lion-throne.

After that, he called the executioners, and said to them,

“Ade ! This one beheaded so many [innocent] people; because of that take him and go, and having beheaded him, cast him out. Behold ! That indeed is the work which the King of the world of the Devas does,”

he said.

Thus, having killed the foolish King, the youth who looked after the goats obtained the sovereignty; and ruling the kingdom together with the Royal Preceptor, he remained there in prosperity.

North-western Province.

 

Note:

The dramatic, and apparently improbable, ending of this Kandian story is founded upon an historical fact. It is recorded in the Mahavansa, the Sinhalese history (Part I, chapter 35), that King Yasalalaka-Tissa, who reigned in Ceylon from 52 to 60 A.D., had a young gate porter or messenger called Subha, who closely resembled him in appearance.

The Mahavansa relates the story of the King’s deposition by him as follows (Tumour’s translation) :—

“The monarch Yasalalaka, in a merry mood, having decked out the said Subha, the messenger, in the vestments of royalty, and seated him on the throne, putting the livery bonnet of the messenger on his own head, stationed himself at a palace gate, with the porter's staff in his hand. While the ministers of state were bowing down to him who was seated on the throne, the King was enjoying the deception.

“He was in the habit, from time to time, of indulging in these scenes. On a certain occasion (when this farce was repeated), addressing himself to the merry monarch, the messenger exclaimed: ‘ How does that messenger dare to laugh in my presence ? ’ and succeeded in getting the King put to death. The messenger Subha thus usurped the sovereignty, and administered it for six years.”

 

Variant 1:

A variant was related to me by the resident monk at a Buddhist temple to the south of Colombo. Its tenour was as follows:—

The Four Difficult Questions.

A certain King put four questions to a Sangha-raja, or Superior of the Buddhist monks.

The first one was,

“How deep is the sea ?”

the second,

“How many stars are there ?”

the third,

“Which is the centre of the earth ?”

and fourthly, he must tell the King what he, the King, thought. The Sangha-raja was allowed a certain time in which to find answers to the questions.

One day a monk seeing him sad, asked him the reason, and was told that the King had put these questions to him, and had threatened to take his life if he could not answer them.

The monk told him not to have any fear, and said that he would go on the appointed day, and answer the King. When the day came round, the monk dressed himself in the Sangha-raja’s robes, and appeared before the King, saying that he was ready to answer the questions.

The King asked him,

“How deep is the sea ?”

He replied,

“At first it is knee-deep ; as you go on it is waist-deep ; further on it is up to the neck ; and beyond that it is over the head.”

The King was satisfied.

He next asked,

“How many stars are there ?”

“Twenty lakshas (two millions),”

said the monk.

“If you do not believe it, count them.”

With this answer, also, the King was satisfied.

He then inquired,

“Where is the centre of the earth ?”

The monk took a staff which he had brought with him, and fixed it upright in the ground.

“Here is the centre,”

he said.

“Measure each way from it, and you will find the distance the same.”

The King was satisfied with this answer also.

“Lastly, you must tell me what I am thinking,”

the King said. The monk replied,

“You think I am the Sangha-raja, but I am only one of his monks.”

So the four questions were all answered satisfactorily.

 

Variant 2:

I hearrd the following version in Cairo:—

A certain King said to his Chief Minister,

“Find me a man who can measure the world and show me the centre of it, and who can count me the number of the stars.”

The Minister considered the matter carefully, but could think of no way of complying with the King's orders. At last his wife said,

“I can see that something is troubling you. Tell me what it is ; perhaps I can assist you.”

Then he told her the orders of the King, and that he did not know where to look for any one who could do what the King desired.

“Go,” she said,

“to the coffee-dealer's shop. You will find there a man who is always taking hashish. He may be able to help you”

[his mental powers being exalted by the drug].

So he went to the coffee-dealer’s, and told the hashish-eater his difficulty.

“I can soon solve these questions for you,”

replied the hashish-eater.

“Take me to the King.”

Thereupon they proceeded to the palace, and the Minister introduced the hashish-eater to the King. He came with a donkey, which was drawing a great load of rope.

“First show me the centre of the world,”

said the King.

“This place is the centre,”

said the hashish-eater.

“If you doubt it, send your men to drag the other end of this rope up to the sky, and I will prove to you that you are just in the middle.”

“Very well,” said the King,

“that is a satisfactory answer. Now give me the number of the stars.”

“Let your people count the hairs on my donkey. You will find that they are exactly equal to the stars in number,”

said the man.

The King admitted that he could not prove that he was answered incorrectly.

The English version is given in the ballad termed “King John and the Abbot of Canterbury,” and is found in Bishop Percy’s Reliques of Ancient English Poetry (ed. 1844, ii, 328). I give some extracts, etc., for the benefit of readers in Ceylon, because of its resemblance to the second Sinhalese story.

With a view to seizing the Abbot’s wealth, the King put three questions to him, the penalty for failing to answer them being beheading. The Abbot received three weeks’ grace in which to discover the replies, but the wisest doctors could not assist him:

Away rode the Abbot all sad at that word;
And he rode to Cambridge and Oxenforde ;
But never a doctor there was so wise.
That could with his learning an answer devise.

However, as in the Kandian version, the shepherd came to his assistance, and took his place on the appointed day, robed as the Abbot, whose features resembled his, and accompanied by the usual train of servants and monks.

Now welcome, sire abbot, the king he did say,
’Tis well thou’rt come back to keepe thy day;
For and if thou canst answer my questions three,
Thy life and thy living both saved shall bee.

And first, when thou seest me here in this stead.
With my crown of golde so fair on my head.
Among all my liege-men so noble of birthe.
Tell me to one penny what I am worth.

“For thirty pence our Saviour was sold
Amonge the false Jewes, as I have bin told ;
And twenty-nine is the worth of thee,
For I thinke, thou are one penny worser than hee.”

The king he laughed, and swore by St. Bittel,
I did not think I had been worth so littel!
—Now secondly tell me, without any doubt.
How soone I may ride this whole world about.

"Yon must rise with the sun, and ride with the same.
Until the next morning he riseth againe;
And then your grace need not make any doubt,
But in twenty-four hours you'll ride it about.”

The king he laughed, and swore by St. Jone,
I did not think, it could be gone so soone!
—Now from the third question thou must not shrinke.
But tell me here truly what I do thinke.

"Yea, that shall I do, and make your grace merry:
You thinke I’m the abbot of Canterbury;
But I'm his poor shepheard, as plain you may see.
That am come to beg pardon for him and for mee.”

The king he laughed, and swore by-the masse,
He make thee lord abbot this day in his place!
" Now naye, my liege, be not in such speede,
For alacke I can neither write, ne reade."

Four nobles a weeke, then, I will give thee,
For this merry jest thou hast showne unto mee;
And tell the old abbot when thou comest home,
Thou hast brought him a pardon from good king John.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

The Sinhalese title is, “The manner in which the Youth who looked after the Goats became King.”

[2]:

Inferior Gods, ruled by Indra.

[3]:

Raja Gurunnanse, probably the Purohita Brahmana, the King’s spiritual adviser.