vetal story.

Three sensitive brothers

Vikram returned to the tree at midnight again and started his journey with Betal on his shoulders where Betal started another story. There lived a Brahmin in a town named Agrahar who had three sons. All three of them were clever, intelligent and humorous. Once they went to a jungle without informing their mother. Their mother complained about this to their father but he ignored saying that it was their age to have fun. He then asked his sons to go to the sea coast to get a tortoise for their temple. Next day all three went on the sea coast and they found a tortoise. But the question was who would carry the tortoise. The first brother refused saying that he found it too dirty, the second brother refused saying that he was getting bad odour from it and the third brother refused saying that he was scared that he might get blisters if he carried the tortoise. They then called a man who was washing clothes near by and asked him to carry the tortoise for them. He asked them why they were not carrying it. At this all three gave their own reasons. The man then said that all three of them were delicate and it was difficult to judge as to who was the most delicate of all. He then suggested them to go to the King and let him judge who was the most delicate.
They then went to the King and even he was confused as this was a difficult and a unique task so he invited them for lunch. Just when they were eating, the eldest brother stopped eating rice. When the King asked him as to why he was not eating, he said that the rice was dirty and there was a peculiar smell of burnt ash of crematorium coming from the boiled rice. On inquiring, the King came to know that the rice that came to the palace kitchen was from the field which was nearby a crematorium. The King then invited a singer to sing for the three brothers. When he learned that the second brother was interested in music the King asked him to play the drum. He sat near the singer but when she started singing he could not play the drum. When the King questioned him he said that he could not sit next to her as she was stinking like a goat. When the King asked the singer she said that she puts perfume everyday but she used to drink goat milk in her childhood. Later all three brothers went off to sleep. At midnight, the youngest brother screamed. When asked, he showed a scar that he got due to something that was pricking through the mattress. When the King ordered to check, they found a strand of hair under the three mattresses. Thus all three brothers were delicate in their own way. The king was to reward the most delicate of all three.
Betaal then stopped and asked Vikram, who according to him, the King should give the prize to. If he would not reply he would be beheaded. Vikram replied that it had to be the youngest brother because whatever the first two brothers said was not to be seen and it could have been a story that they knew before hand. But whatever the youngest brother experienced had a proof in the form of a scar and one should only believe what one sees with their own eyes. Later the king rewarded the youngest brother and sent his men to deliver the tortoise to their house. Betaal was very happy with Vikram’s answer but as he had spoken, Betaal once again flew away