How Fate Was Overcome (A Children’s Story)

A rishi had come to the village en-route Kashi. No one in the village paid any attention to him.Their disregard enraged the rishi; he cursed the village would not have rains for ten years.

Aghast villagers fell at the rishi’s feet seeking forgiveness. They made an earnest request to the rishi to revoke his harsh punishment.

The rishi was not assuaged. He went away saying no living being on earth planet could undo the curse.

The villagers were sadly resigned to their fate.

The Lord in his heavens heard the rishi’s curse and reluctantly put away his conch – it would not be used for years now. It was always the sound of the conch that brought rains down on the parched planet.

It was then they noticed a farmer taking his bullocks and plow every morning to his paddy field. He would till the land for an hour and return home.

One day, an elder in the village accosted him: ‘Don’t you know the rishi’s curse? Or, you think the curse would be ineffectual?’

The farmer said: ‘No, I am aware of the curse and I also believe a rishi’s curse can never be false.’

‘Then, why are you doing this? If there are going to be no rains for ten years, what’s the point in tilling the land everyday?’

‘Well, it keeps the animals and me physically fit. It’s not just that – the real danger is: if we don’t, we might, through disuse, just forget how to till when the rain returns.’

The Lord in his heavens heard these words and was startled out of his repose. It could happen to him too. He too might forget how to use his conch. That would be nothing less than an anartham (disaster). So he took out his conch and blew his lungs out in a long blast.

And thus ended the dry spell, sending everyone into a dizzy.

No one knew it was all the industrious farmer’s doing, him included.

End

 

 
Source: Adapted from a ‘forward’ from Nithya and image from hotstar com