Chapter 8~ The Quest Ends
As the confusion and the dirt of misunderstanding between Pratap and Rana Punja had been cleared,Pratap promised Punjaji to free their kingdom from Maldev's clutches and help him regain his authority. Together they took the solemn oath to free their motherland of the devils.
Rani Jaya Bhili Jaya Bhai Bhai. They were eternal brothers and partners in every sense.
They moved towards Udaipur in full force. Maldev's downfall was near.
Meanwhile,as the next day rose,Shakti Singh was busy overseeing the preparations of his event. He had befriended Heer,the same girl who had impressed him to the core.
Everyone had arrived in the Gurukul and the competition was set up.
The rules were simple: One question would be asked to the participants and they had to answer it in detail with complete understanding and submit it in the required time limit.
All the brilliant students were seated in the practice room where tables had been arranged for their paperwork. As the whistle blew,there was a soft murmur and the pupils got to work.
After an hour of toiling their brains,they submitted their script and eagerly waited for the result. As Shakti Singh was collecting the scrolls from the pupils,a bhala came whizzling past through the room. Someone had thrown it with full strength as it got stuck in the archery aim board. Attached to it was a scroll,which had some answers in it. Shakti analysed each of the answer script himself.
An hour later,the result was announced. Shakti Singh entered the room full of students. The murmur stopped as he spoke:
Respected pupils,before I announce the winner,I would like to read that student's answer.
The question asked was: Once, a oil merchant and a butcher came to the court of law,asking for justice. The judge asked the oil merchant to narrate his part of the story:In the market,a butcher had come to buy some oil from him. He weighed the oil and gave him. When it was time to pay,the butcher told him that he had a small gold bar worth a hundred gold coins which he wanted to give for the oil. But the oil that he bought was worth only fifty gold coins. So the he gave him fifty gold coins. As soon as the butcher got hold of the coins,he claimed it to be his and tried to escape.
The butcher opposed it and said: As he was about to pay the fifty gold coins to the oil merchant,the merchant grabbed it from him and told him to be his change for the gold bar which he never gave him.
The judge immediately asked for the coins to be immersed in water and asked the butcher to be punished.
How did the judge know about the culprit?
Now the most appropriate answer: The culprit was the butcher. He lied to the judge about the coins being his. When the judge immersed the coins in water,the oil on the coins must have come up to the surface as the coins rightfully belonged to the oil merchant. When he was handing over the coins to the butcher,he had just weighed the oil which made the coins oily.
Shakti: So the winner of the competition is...Heer!!!!!!!
Heer,who was until now standing in a corner,was shocked to hear her name.
She moved towards Shakti and whispered: How did you know that I had thrown that bhala?
Shakti: I heard anklet sounds just after the bhala was thrown and besides I also recognized your handwriting. What do you think? Only you can make observations?
Heer blushed on hearing this and left the room.
As they came to take leave from Acharyaji, he spoke:
I never knew my girl was the smartest of all!!
Heer blushed and looked down.
Acharya: Shakti Singh! Although Heer is not my daughter, I have always considered her to be one. Her father was a noble and just King who fought for his motherland till his last breath. He died by the sins of Maldev and I want him punished. I want you to avange her sorrow and also take good care of her. Good luck!
The quest was over...as they too left for Udaipur, the warriors had taken another step towards Maldev's doom. The good had teamed up for the betterment of Mewar ,for the betterment of humanity.
As the fifth day of their quest was nearing its end,they knew that the task was complete but they had to be prepared for the ultimate sorrow--- The departure of Jaiwanta Bai.
With love,
Mahishee😊
