The plan
As soon as he had gone a little further into the forest, he talked into his locket and said, “I wish I was sitting on a beautiful horse and looked like a rich silk merchant. Also, I wish I had a beautiful bird of paradise sitting on my shoulder. Let the bird be so beautiful that it’ll be irresistible to the magician I’m going to meet. I’d also like to have some wonderfully beautiful silk.”
Sure enough, all his wishes were granted, and he became a rich silk merchant on a beautiful horse with an expensive and beautifully irresistible bird of paradise sitting on his shoulder. It had beautiful bright colored plumes and long a flowing tail. Now the merchant was ready with his plan of action.[break]
Soon enough, the merchant reached the magician’s residence. The bird of paradise sitting on his shoulder was singing beautifully. It was singing so beautifully that the magician could not resist, and he came to the window and looked outside. He saw the beautiful bird sitting on the merchant’s shoulder. Immediately, he sent his attendants to bring the silk merchant along with the bird of paradise inside the house. At the request of the attendants, the silk merchant left his cat and horse outside and he went inside the house with his bird.
Inside, the magician was waiting eagerly for the silk merchant. He wanted the bird at any cost. So, as soon as the merchant entered the living room, the first thing the magician did was ask about the bird. He said, “You have a beautiful bird. Where did you get it?”
The merchant replied, “Oh, this is a special bird. My mother gave it to me. I don’t know where it came from.”
The merchant noticed that the magician was very interested in the bird. He realized that his magic was working well. Now, his next plan was to distract the magician. He noticed that the magician’s eyes were still fixed on the bird while he kept saying, “I would love to have one such bird for myself. Too bad you don’t know where to get it.”
But in his mind, he had decided to get the bird by any means. So he started a conversation with the silk merchant. He asked, “What are you selling?”
The merchant said, “I’m selling fine silk. Would you be interested in looking at some of them?”
The magician jumped at the opportunity to have the merchant stay at his place longer, and said, “Oh, yes! I would love to see them.”
Both magician and merchant were happy that their respective plans were working. The magician had more time to plan a way to get the bird, and the merchant was happy because the magician was gradually falling into his trap. It was a funny situation. The magician was more interested to find out more about the bird, and the merchant was busy talking about the different kinds of silk he was showing.
At one point, the merchant was saying, “Oh! Look at this silk. It’s so fine it can pass even through a finger ring. You can try it for yourself. Unfortunately, I don’t have a ring on me at the moment. I left it with my other stuff outside. If you don’t mind, I’ll just go out and get the ring.”
The magician did not want the merchant to go. So he said, “Wait, I think I have a ring on me that we can use.”
By now, the magician was so distracted that he had forgotten about the importance of the ring. Right now, the bird was more important to him than the ring. He took the ring off his little finger and gave it to the merchant to put the silk through it.
The merchant continued talking about his silk as well as the bird. Finally, when all the silk items had been seen by the merchant, he started to gather his stuff, fully aware that the ring was still holding one of his silk pieces.
Then suddenly, the merchant said, “Since you like the bird so much, I’ll sell it to you at a very low price. I’ll charge you only Rs 500 for it.”
Hearing this, the magician was very happy. He started to jump up and down. He had completely forgotten about the ring. Immediately, the magician decided to accept the offer and pay the money and get hold of the bird before the merchant had any opportunity to change his mind. Hence he said, “Why don’t you wait here? I’ll go inside and get the money for you.”
While the magician was gone, the merchant put all his wares inside his bag along with the ring and waited for the magician to come. Soon the magician appeared and gave the money and took the bird from the merchant. He was very happy. He wanted the merchant to leave as soon as possible before he had any opportunity to change the deal and decide not to sell the bird.
So he said, “I’m sorry I didn’t buy any silk from you today. I know you have to sell them to get some money. But there’s still time for you to make a good sale of your silk; so you should hurry because it’ll be dark soon.”
The merchant was also in a hurry to leave. He, too, was very happy that he had been able to get the ring so easily. So he left immediately.
Outside, his horse was waiting for him. Soon he was on his way to the forest. Once there, the first thing he did was change the horse and the cat into their original forms. Then all of them rode back to the palace and changed everyone back to their previous shapes.
When everyone was back to their previous normal forms, they held a meeting to decide how to punish the magician. They all decided that revenge was not a thing to be done. There should be another way to punish him. They all decided to let the magician have the bird. Since he did not have the magic ring, he no longer had the magic powers with him. Now he was just a rich man who desperately loved his bird.
The king, who was the actual owner of the ring, decided to destroy it so that it would not fall into another bad person’s hands and harm innocent people. The merchant left the palace happy because he was able to help those in need of his help. He did not worry that he had not been able to make much money. Still, he decided to sell the nice silk that he still had with him. He decided to do honest business and not depend on the magic of his locket. He wore the locket just as before but did not use it at all. Anyway, he kept one piece of silk for his dear wife and sold the rest for good money. In due course of time, the merchant returned home with lots of money.
As for the locket, no one knew of its mystery except the merchant. He had decided to pass it on to his son or daughter, just like his mother had done, but without telling them its secrets. He wanted his children to find out about it just the way he had found out.
As for the princess (cat), she married her handsome prince (horse), and they lived happily ever after.
(This concludes the second part of the two-part story. Usha Pokharel is an educationist, consultant and author of several children’s books. She can be reached at
usha@pokharel.net.)
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