The Sensitive Queens  

Once, a king had three beautiful queens. One day he was sitting in the garden with his first queen Nalini. As they sat enjoying the cool breeze, a flower fell on Queen Nalini’s thigh. She screamed in pain and fainted. When the startled king examined her thigh, he saw a huge bruise where the little flower had fallen. He immediately called the royal physician and made sure that her bruise was well tended to. A little later, the king was spending the night with his second queen Tara. Suddenly Queen Tara screamed with agony. “O my whole body is burning. I can’t bear these bright rays,” she cried. Sure enough her body was covered with blisters. Looking up, the king saw that the moonlight was shining through the windows. He pulled the curtains and once again summoned the physician.

At last, he sent for his third queen. As Queen Smrithi was coming down the thickly carpeted corridor, she heard the sound of rice being pounded. She screamed, “Stop it! 1 can't bear the sound,” and fainted in the corridor. The king was surprised to see that her hands were covered with blisters just on hearing the sound of rice being pounded.”

Betal asked King Vikram, “Tell me, O King, among the three queens, which was the most delicate of all?”

King Vikram answered, “Surely Queen Smrithi was the most sensitive and delicate queen. The other queens had something touching their bodies like the flower and moonbeams. But in the case of the third queen, her hand developed blisters on her just hearing the faint noise of rice being pounded in the distance.”

Betal said, “Surely O King, your sense of judgment is as keen as Queen Smrithi was delicate and sensitive. But it won’t help you because now I am off.”

King Vikram had to once again go all the way back to collect Betal from the tree.