Betaal Pachisi - Story 20 - An unsuccessful love tale

Vikrama did not give up. He tries again to catch vetala. After several attempts he succeeds and starts taking him to the ascetic. Vetala starts narrating him a story so that they can easily complete the long journey once again but warns him not to speak anything else he will go back to his place again.

Anand Sen, the prince of Chanderpur was fond of preying. Once when he went in the forest to prey, a heavy storm separated him from his people and even the horse. The strong wind threw him on the ground. He got injured and became unconscious. The sentries of King Dharam Veer found him there and brought him to the king. When the king learnt about his whereabouts, he welcomed him and treated him as his guest. He even apologized for the inconvenience if any caused by his sentries.

The king had a daughter who was a devotee of Goddess Mother. She was adept in dance and music. She recited a sort of prayer for the Goddess Mother. Anand Sen saw her and was fascinated towards her. Anand Sen was also fond of playing Veena. He called the attendants and asked for getting a Veena to play. He played Veena so well that the princess Roopmathi could not control herself and came to his room and got engrossed in the music. When Anand Sen saw her, he was surprised to see her. She said that he played Veena so well that she would like to be his disciple for learning Veena. To this the prince said that he wishes her to be his queen of heart instead. The princess blushed and they fell in love with each other.

One day before returning, he approached king Dharam Veer and demanded the hand of princess in marriage. The king said that he would have gladly accepted the offer had he not promised to marry his daughter with the prince of Sunder Nagar.

When they learnt the desire of the king, both, the prince and and the princess were disappointed. The princess said to the prince that she cannot live without him. The prince also said that he cannot live without her. Finally the prince suggests that if she would like to abscond away with him. The princess consented and even told him from where he can get the horse for the journey.

The same night the prince approached the man from whom he could hire the horse. The horseman showed him two horses. One the young one and another the old one. When he inquired about the rent he was told that the charges for the old one are double than the young horse. When he inquired in detail the horseman explained that the old horse once started takes one to the destination. While the young one is afraid of water. He said that his mother and his grand mother all were afraid of water. The conversation made the prince to rethink about his decision of taking the princess with him without the consent of her parents. He took the old horse and straight away went to his state without taking the princess with him.

After having told the story the Vetala asked the King Vikrama to tell whether the prince did the right thing by betraying the love of the princess. To this the king replied that the prince Anand Sen after learning the story of the young horse became wise enough to realize that if today the princess was absconding with him, tomorrow his own daughter may do the same causing a lot of embarrassment to his status.

Now that the king had spoken, the Vetala got an excuse to rescue himself from the king and he flew back towards the tree.