Veer, Vikram and Budhu

There was a small village in Kashmir. In that village lived a poor farmer. He had three sons, Veer, Vikram and Budhu. Budhu was called so, because others considered him as foolish. Veer and Vikram were not good boys. They both went to Srinagar to earn money and they did not come back. They earned little money and spent it all. So Budhu was sent by his father in search of them. Budhu found them out in Srinagar and told them how his parents were suffering. So the next day all of them decided to travel to Hrishi Kesh for earning more money. Those days, there were no buses and only bullock carts were there. Even that was for rich people. So these brothers walked towards Hrishikesh. On their way they saw an anthill. While Veer and Vikram wanted to destroy it, Buddhu, oppose it tooth and nail. He told them, “These ants have done us no harm. So we should not trouble them.” Veer and Vikram at last agreed and they walked further. Then they came to a very big lake full of swans. Veer and Vikram wanted to kill those swans. Budhu opposed it and told, “These swans have done us no harm .So we should not kill them,” At last Veer and Vikram agreed and they proceeded on their journey. Then they came to a deep forest. In the forest there was a huge Beehive. Veer and Vikram wanted to set fire to the Beehive and drink the honey. But Budhu told them, “That is not correct. These bees have done us no harm. They have collected this honey with lot of effort.” Veer and Vikram at last agreed.

Next day they reached a huge town where everything had turned in to stone .In the entrance three stone horses were there. All of them went in and found all people had turned in to stone. At last they found light in one room. When they entered the room, they found an old man eating his dinner on a stone table. He gave them good food and told them, “Having eaten this food, you have to do three tasks. If you complete it, then all the people in the town would become alive. If you do not do it, then you will also become stones.”

Veer agreed first. The first task was to collect back 1000 pearls buried in the mud, below a stone before sun set. Veer did his best but could collect only 20 pearls. He was turned in to stone. Next day, Vikram started the task. He also failed as he could collect only 10 pearls by evening.

Only Budhu was left out. He went near the stone and started crying. Suddenly an ant followed by thousands of ants came near him. The ant told him, “You have saved us the other day. I will help you today.” Then all the ants went in side the mud and brought back all the 1000 pearls before noon. The next task was to find the golden ring of the princess, which was lost in a lake. Again Budhu went near the lake and started crying. Suddenly thousands of swans came from no where and within no time brought the ring from the bottom of the lake. The third task was the most difficult. That city had three princesses. All of them had become stone. Budhu had to find out the youngest. The only clue was that before they became stone, the eldest was eating an apple, the second one was eating sugar and the third one was drinking honey. All the princesses looked very much alike. The honeybee came to help Budhu this time. It went near the lips of each princess and later sat on the lip of the youngest princess who had drunk honey. Budhu easily identified her.

The entire town suddenly awoke. All of them including Veer and Vikram thanked Budhu. They said he was not Budhu but Buddha Pundit.