Once a fight broke out between fate and intelligence. Both were considering being superior to the other. Intelligence said to fate, “If you are superior then make this shepherd a king without my help, then I will consider you to be superior.” The fate started making attempts to turn the fate of the shepherd.
The fate placed a precious pair of shoes of diamonds in front of the shepherd and he happily wore them and walked. Then the fate sent a merchant to the shepherd. The merchant was surprised to see those precious shoes and said, “Would you like to sell this pair of shoes to me?” The shepherd said, “Take it.” The merchant asked again, “What price would you take?” The shepherd said, “What price should I say? I have to go to the village everyday to earn my bread, if you pay me two quintals of gram as the cost of these shoes then I will eat the gram and drink sheep milk and in this way I can avoid the visit to the village.” The foolish shepherd sold the precious diamond shoes in return of two quintals of gram whereas each diamond used in the shoe was worth more than one lakh.
The fate went one step ahead and sent the merchant to the king’s court. When the merchant kept the precious shoes in front of the king, he was surprised to see them and asked the merchant, “Where did you buy these shoes from?” The merchant replied, “One of the king is my friend, he has presented these to me.” The king asked, “Does that king have more sets of these shoes?” Them merchant answered, “Yes, yes.” The king asked, “Does that king have any son also?” The merchant said, “Yes, he has one son.” Hearing this answer the king was happy and requested the merchant to arrange the marriage of his daughter with the son of that king.”
Fate was responsible for this whole incident, but the merchant was very surprised to hear the king’s words, because he remembered that he got the pair of shoes from the shepherd, there was no king or his son. But he had spoken lies and if he had told about his lies then the king would punish him. He decided to share something with the king, he said, “I will go to fix the alliance of your daughter.” Saying this he went in the direction from which he had come.
When he reached the place where he had met the shepherd, he saw that the shepherd was wearing more precious shoes than the ones he had. The merchant was flabbergasted. He thought that the shepherd is indeed some great man and hence he is getting such wonderful things from nature . He thought of talking to the shepherd. He sat on one side; he placed the copper that he was carrying under the tree. The sun was shining bright in the afternoon, the shepherd decided to sit under the shade of the tree where the copper was kept. He used the copper packet as a pillow and fell asleep. With his luck the copper turned into gold.
When the merchant saw it he thought that a person whose touch can turn copper into gold, could also be presented like a king. With this thought in mind, the merchant purchased some land in the village and started the construction of a fort. He also recruited an army. When the fort was ready, the merchant took the shepherd into the fort and gave him good royal clothes to wear. He also kept a minister, servants for his aid. The merchant wrote a letter to the king, “Our king has accepted your alliance for marriage of your daughter with his son, fix a suitable date and we will reach there with the Baraat, (marriage procession).” The king in turn fixed a date and replied to the letter.
Here, the merchant was making all the arrangements for the marriage. One day, the court was arranged and all the ministers were sitting there. The shepherd was sitting on the throne like a king. The shepherd told the merchant, “Let me go now, my sheep will go into the fields of other persons and they will beat me.” Everybody present in the court started laughing on hearing this. The merchant was thinking in his mind, what is the solution for this problem? If he speaks in this manner in front of that king then I will become the scapegoat. The merchant said to the shepherd, “Whatever you want to say, say it in my ears.”
The marriage was approaching. The merchant took the Baraat and proceeded to the king’s place. They reached near the village. The king’s ministers and his men came to receive them. The shepherd saw them and thought that probably his sheep have entered into their fields and they have come to catch him. But, he spoke in the ears of the merchant and therefore nobody could hear him. The people started talking to each other, “What is the prince saying?” The merchant replied, “All the kings men who have come for our welcome will be given five lakh rupees each.” The orders were implemented as well.
The news spread in the village like a wild fire. Everybody was talking about the rich prince who had come to marry the princess. The prince was so generous that he was giving lakhs of rupees in gift and nothing in hundreds or thousands. The king was also afraid that he has decided to marry his daughter with such a great king. He prayed god to maintain his prestige. The princess was married to the shepherd.
The fate worked till now with the intelligence of the merchant but in the night when the shepherd was sleeping in his room all alone, he saw big lamp shades, chandeliers and thought that the fire of ghosts, that he heard about in the forests has reached here. He was scared of getting burnt in it. While he was thinking about all these things, the princess walked up to his room. The shepherd heard the sound of the anklets, bangles, he thought that he is still safe from the grip of the witch, there could be many more at this place. It is better to runaway from this place. Suddenly he saw a staircase, he climbed up the stairs and he thought of escaping from that route. At that time intelligence told fate, “Look, this shepherd could not become a king with your help, now he will fall down and die.” And as destiny had decided, the shepherd fell down and died on the spot.
The luck of education means ‘fruits of work.’ If the man acts intelligently, wisely after understanding everything then he can change his luck with his hard work and intelligence, but a foolish person loses everything that he gains. Therefore, one should build his fortune with intelligence and hard work.
