The Faithful Servants  

King Dharmaveer of Varanasi was looking for a bride. He had proclaimed that before anyone in his kingdom got his daughter married off, he was to be informed. In the same kingdom, there was a rich merchant by the name of Vidyanand. His daughter Parvathi was a wise and beautiful girl.

When the time came to give her hand in marriage, Vidyanand went to the king and expressed his desire to marry off his daughter.

The king said, “If I find that your daughter is suitable for me, I will marry her. Otherwise, you can look for another groom for her.”

The king then sent two of his servants to meet her. Both the servants were wise at judging beauty and character. When they met Parvathi, they found her to be extremely beautiful. But they also realized that she was too strong-willed. They felt that she might dominate the king and therefore make him unfit to rule over the kingdom.

Therefore, they went to the king and reported to him that they found her unfit to marry him. The king then allowed the merchant to marry his daughter off to one of the ministers.

A few weeks after Parvathi was married to the minister, King Dharmaveer happened to see her on the balcony of his minister’s palace. The king was wonderstruck by her beauty. He was furious that his servants had reported wrongly to him. He put them both to death.

Betal asked King Vikram, “Do you think King Dharmaveer was justified in putting the servants to death?”

King Vikram said, “The two servants were loyal to the king and only did what was right. They were more concerned with their king's future than his desire for a woman. Hence, King Dharmaveer was totally unjustified in putting the two loyal servants to death.”

“You are the worthiest king in the world. But you have again broken your silence,” said Betal and went back to the banyan tree. King Vikram went back to fetch him again.