Short Story - The Peak of the Tigers

THE PEAK OF THE TIGERS

“Nariya my wife, a disgrace has happened!”
Rajiv comes in running frightened into his humble hut. Nariya appalled, drops the pan with the grains she was separating for lunch.
“What happened Rajiv my husband! You scared me!”
“The landlord wants to take away our son Sima!!” – Rajiv cries out vehemently, with his face between his open hands.
“How so Rajiv, calm down!”
“The landlord has also threatened us that he'll take away our land and our elephants for the debts we owe him!”
Husband and wife embrace each other desperately as to repel the pain. After minutes of silence, Nariya says sobbing:
“We will get the money Rajiv!”
“But how! We know no one. We already owe to the owner of the grocery store, the landlord wants thirty gold coins.”
“But our land and our elephants are worth more than that!”
Nariya starts crying again., as she thinks about her son’s fate. She was already imagining her son toiling as a slave at landlord's household, being ill-treated. This thought of hers would get her more into despair. She would see Sima, her son, feeding on leftovers, sleeping on the floor along with the animals, using torn clothes and walking barefoot. The negative thought of Nariya about her son would grow larger and larger.
“I don't want to lose Sima.” – Cries Nariya bewailing.
“I have an idea! Go talk to Surya, the seer. Talk to her, they say she is capable of miracles!”
“Well, Surya could surely help us.”

“Holy Surya, they want to take away my son!” “Calm down Rajiv. But tell me, for what reason?”
“It is the debt that I owe to the landlord."
“But everyone knows that the debt is unfair, that he charges absurdly for provisions and foodstuff.”
“Surya! Do something!”
“Well Rajiv, and how much is he asking?
“Thirty gold coins!!”
“That’s a crime. You should inform the British authorities.”
“The British authorities do not meddle with village affairs. On the contrary, they could be up to be helping the landlord.”
“You’re right about that. You can't trust the British. I can’t make miracles happen, I am just a humble seer, I just obey the will of the Gods. The human will is even more cruel than the will of the Gods.
“Can you read the divination water?”
“That’s all I can do for you at the moment. Let’s see...”
“What do you see?”
“I don’t know. It's not going to be easy, but I foresee your son happy, playing around with you in the future.”
“So I’m gonna make it.”
“Yes. But your perseverance will be fundamental. Your character will be tested. You'll go through unimagined difficult situations. Your choice at a crucial moment will assure Sima to be with you at home.

“What brings you to town Rajiv?”
“Well, to have a chat with Surya, the seer. Things are not easy at home. The landlord wants to expel me from my land, besides taking away my elephants. That is, if I don't pay him the thirty gold coins I owe him. The worst of all is that he threatens to take away my son Sima, if I do not want to lose my land!
“You’re not the only one in this situation. Everybody is suffering from the evils of the landlords.”
“It ain’t no comfort and it's not soothing knowing that others as well as suffering like me."
“We should give the landlords a lesson. They’ve got worse since the British arrived.”
“Everything got worst after the coming of the British.”
“Well Rajiv, do you know who’s in town?”
“Who?”
“The Maharaj of Charidapura, the most powerful lord of the region. Who knows he can’t help you out in this? Your landlord obliges to the Maharaj.
“But there are many people in this situation. Why would he care about my problem? I’ll not even get an audience with the Maharaj.”
“Well, it doesn’t cost you anything trying at least, since you're already in town.”
“What is the Maharaj doing in town?”
“He came to judge people that have committed crimes, to make allotment of properties, to sentence over inheritance and the like.”
“Do you think there's a way to have an audience with the Maharaj? I know! I will be committing a light crime and in an instance I will be before the Maharaj!”
“Are you crazy? Have you lost your mind Rajiv? There’s no such thing as a light crime. A crime is a crime, no matter light it might be.”
“Leave it up to me!”

Rajiv goes to the market to try committing a light crime. Poor Rajiv, who has always been an honest man and did not know what to do. He approaches a man selling vegetables and tries to steal from him an eggplant. As he was trying to get the eggplant, the man says:
“My good friend, keep the eggplant for yourself. Today was my lucky day, selling a lot. I am even going home already. We have to share our good fortune with everyone!”
Hanging around with an eggplant in hands, Rajiv thought out about something else in order to commit his light crime. He strolled around the market and tried to rob a bag from an old and weak lady. As he grabs the bag, the old lady says:
“Is it you Rajiv, so kind! You are going to help me carry the bag home! My God, it is so heavy!”
“Lady Pradesh! It has been a long time I don't see you! When I saw you carrying this heavy bag, I thought to myself that I could not stand still doing nothing!” – Says Rajiv embarrassed.
It was Lady Pradesh, a long time friend of Rajiv’s family. Rajiv carries her bag to her home and returns to the market, this time convinced that he would commit his light crime whatever it takes, in order to save his son.
Rajiv then makes up his mind to knock down the first person he encounters, in order to get arrested. He picks a flimsy guy, and with no further ado, he suddenly knocks the flimsy guy’s face with clenched fists. Nevertheless...
“Thank you my friend! You have just knocked down the famous chicken robber!”
Two Maharaj’s officers were thanking Rajiv for knocking down the flimsy guy.
“Officer! Take me, arrest me officer! Take me to the Maharaj to be judged! I beg you! I need to talk to him! I’ve committed a crime! I knocked down a defenseless man.
“What are you talking about! You will get a reward for capturing the most wanted chicken robber.”

Rajiv had grown tired of his frustrated attempts to commit a light crime. So he enters a temple and starts praying, asking for a favorable conclusion of his problem.
He sits down in front of Krishna's statue and starts praying eagerly, making signs with the hands, getting into a kind of trance that makes him so exalted that he ends-up hugging the statue.
“You are under arrest for profanation of a sacred temple!” - The temple’s priest yells, calling immediately the guards.

“The next case” – Announces dormantly the Maharaja.
“Subject profaned the sacred temple by embracing the statue of Krishna” – The guard promptly responds.
“Tell me subject, what do you say in your defense?” – The Maharaj asks Rajiv.
“Great and wise Maharaj” – Rajiv greets bowing to the Maharaj. “I shall tell you the truth. I am a honest father that is merely trying to get your attention. My landlord wants to take away my land and elephants, in case I do not pay him what I owe, that is, thirty gold coins. Furthermore, if I do not want to lose my land and elephants, which I depend on for living, he will take my son Sima away from me.
“Go on, tell me more...” – The Maharaj curiously asks Rajiv for more details.
“So, in order to get an audience with your Highness, I resolved to commit light crimes, of which I was not successful, for I am a man of honor. Being tormented by the failure of my attempts, I got into the sacred temple to pray, and in a moment of despair I embraced the sacred idol...” – Rajiv confesses all, as if he knew that his acts would be understood and pardoned by the Maharaj.
“You will get thirty days in jail so that you can straighten your ideas. The next case!” – The Maharaj unemotionally decrees the fate of Rajiv.
“Holy Maharaj, I beg you, I do not want my son to be taken away, for he is the most precious thing that I possess on the face of the earth!”
“Do you insist going on with your story?”
“There’s nothing worst than separated families. The heart of a father beats for his son’s.
“Well then. I also have a daughter. She is sick now. Only a rare herb from the Peak of the Tigers can save her. I have already sent many men for searching the herb, but no one returned alive. My daughter is afflicted. Are you willing to sacrifice your life in order to keep your son?” – The Maharaj queried Rajiv in hope that he would accept the bid.
“Yes my Maharaj. Anything, I will do anything in my power, as long as I keep my son!”
“Well then, if you can make it, your debts will be pardoned and I will make you my right hand in the region.”

Rajiv walks during the day and rests in villages during the night, in order to get to the Peak of the Tigers. In all villages in which he went by, people told him to give in and not to proceed to the Peak.
As he arrived at the mountain foot of the frightful Peak of the Tigers, the last village welcomed him before beginning the mountain climb.
“Spend the night with us stranger.” The chieftain of the village invites Rajiv. “You should leave soon in the morning. Eat and rest well, for you’re going to confront the man-eating tiger.”
“Thank you, sir. As I have explained to you, I’m doing this for my son.”
“I will tell you a secret. Many men have gone through here, but no one returned with life.”
“Well, I’m aware of that.”
“So, are you willing to bet on your luck?”
“Yeah, I believe so. But tell me, what secret are you talking about?”
“So hear me. The tiger is in truth a cursed sorcerer. That's why he can speak. They say he speaks with his victims before devouring them alive.”
“The tiger talks?”
“Yes indeed, for once he was a human, like you and me. Do you want to know more?
“Yes, please tell me!”
“The only way to escape from the rage of the tiger is by lifting the curse.
“But how did the sorcerer got cursed anyway?”
“Story goes that when he was a human, he took a vow of chastity to Upani, the goddess of the mountain, promising to be her husband until death. He did that in exchange for more powers. However, one day he met a young girl in the village and decided to get married.”
“Was the young girl from this village?”
“No, you might have passed by a village at the mouth of the river.”
“Oh yes.”
“There’s more to it. He then spouses the young girl in a great festivity, for he was the sorcerer. By then he had completely forgotten about the vow of chastity that he took with goddess Upani.”
“So then?”
“Then, when they were feasting the new home, the goddess appears all furious and transforms the sorcerer into a tiger.
“Was that a long time ago?”
“This is almost a legend. I wasn’t even born, and you know that I’am old.
“That’s quite a story!”
“So my son, whoever gets to lift the curse of goddess Upani, takes home the rare herb to save the daughter of the Maharaj.
“But how can I lift the curse of the mountain goddess?”
“That no one knows. If it were known, there wouldn’t be some many people devoured by trying to get the herb.”
The night falls in the village and Rajiv between sheets starts dreaming about the mountain climb and the dreadful encounter with the man-eating tiger. In his dreams, Rajiv is climbing up a crag. Rajiv meets a beautiful woman when he reaches the top.
“Who are you?”
“I am Upani, goddess of the mountain. I learned about the burden that you are carrying in your heart.”
“Holy Upani, help me!”
“You’re a godd man and a wonderful father. You have conquered my heart with your actions and pure feelings.”
“Upani, help me keep my son!!”
“Yes I will. I’ll teach you the magic words that will lift my curse. However there’s one thing. Whatever it might happen, always have faith in me.”
“Thank you Upani, I don’t know how to thank you.”
“Memorize and take it into your heart: Bhagavat Satya Pura. Now, you just need to worship me in your home, and I will be always by your side.”
Rajiv suddenly wakes up in sweats. He was not sure if all that conversation with Upani had been real or simply his imagination.
He leaves behind the village in the early morning, starting the steep climb to the Peak of the Tigers. Rajiv finds obstacles along the way, trails cut by enormous rocks, abysses that he had to cross with vines.
The sun was showing that was already midday. Rajiv was almost arriving at the mountaintop. Suddenly the sky became full of dark clouds and the wind started to blow even harder. Rajiv had to make efforts in order not to be blown from the trail to the abyss.
As Rajiv reaches a rock platform, he hears a growl. That could only be the voracious man-eating tiger. He looks around and sights a white tiger with black strips preparing itself for the assault.
“How do you dare? Oh insignificant human being.” – Says the tiger.
“I came to fetch the herb.”
“So you know your death is inevitable, like the other ones that tried the same thing!”
“I know that once you were a sorcerer!”
“How do you dare again! How do you know?”
“Upani, the goddess of the mountain taught me how to lift your curse.”
“No more idle talk, I do not want to know what you are doing over here, I will devour you for once and for all!!”
The tiger attacks Rajiv that moments before being bitten, utters the magic words:
“Bhagavat Satya Pura!”
The feline mouth that was about to rip a chunk out of Rajiv’s neck, transform itself in a human mouth. The sorcerer falls upon Rajiv and soon notices his transformation.
“Miracle! You were telling me the truth!!” _ Says the sorcerer.
“I told you that Upani had taught me the magic words!”
Sorcerer and Rajiv both stand up. The sorcerer still in wonder with the transformation, looks at his human arms and legs, as if he were unable to believe.
“I am Gadja, the sorcerer! I spent damned two hundred years as a tiger, in a solitude that no human being would ever understand. I have no more wife, no home of my own, my land, everything is gone!”
“I suppose it must have been difficult for you.” – Rajiv agrees.
“You suppose? You don’t know what you’re talking about. By the way, do you have a family and lands?
“Yes, a beautiful family and a nice place for us.”
“Well then, I want them for me!”
“How come? What do you mean you want?”
“It’s simple!!”
Gadja the sorcerer raises his hands discharging rays against Rajiv that becomes a crow. Then Gadja himself transform itself into Rajiv.
- Cree, cree, cree. – Rajiv tries to talk desperately.
Then, Gadja the sorcerer gets the rare herb and goes on downhill towards Rajiv's city.

Thanks to his divination power, he knew everything about Rajiv's life. He then gets to the palace, taking the rare herb to the Maharaj.
“Brave subject!. You brought me my daughter's salvation. It will take measures so that your debts will be annulled. You will from now on be my right hand in the region.”

“Mummy, a crow has made a nest in our roof!” Says Sima the son, running into the house.
“We should remove it from there. Crows bring bad luck to the house. Ask your father to do so.”
Sima talks to his father, without knowing that he was being personified by the sorcerer.
“Daddy, mum has asked to get the crow's nest away from our roof.
The sorcerer already knew that the crow was Rajiv himself. But as he himself had pronounced the curse, he could not remove Rajiv's nest from the roof.
“Don't you worry Sima. Your father will take care of this.”
Days went by and the nest was still over the roof. Gadja the sorcerer disguised as Rajiv, starts to give signs that he was not the real one. He would not work, would tell lies, he even changed his eating habits, he would stay awaken during the night and did not care for his wife. Nariya thought that her husband's behavior was a kind of odd. She then asks him:
“Rajiv my husband, what happened to you? You're so different, you don't work anymore, give no attention to our son, treats as if I were a total stranger, what has happened? You didn't even care in removing the crow nest out from the roof!”
“Nariya dear, this is because the hardships I went through at the `Peak of the Tigers has weakened me. I don't feel well, this anxiety of almost having our son taken away, has feebled me. All these things left me with no courage at all.
“But the Maharaj has pardoned our debts and made you the new landlord. We've got now a new house, we've got more lands and our pantry has never been so full. You should be at your best! See the new good things in life we've got now!”
“Yeah, that's true. Don't you worry. I will be in shape pretty soon.”
Gadja would lock himself up in his room, talking to no one, getting Nariya even more worried.
Nariya could not put up with her supposed husband's behavior. She decides to go to the town and see Surya, the seer.
“Surya, my husband has become a total stranger since he returned from the Peak of the Tigers.”
“Let me read the divination water. Let me see. That is not your husband. It's a sorcerer disguised as Rajiv.
“How so?”
“That's what I see.”
“And where's Rajiv?”
“Light-up this candle. Let me see. Yes, he's going through a lot of trouble. He's in an extremely difficult situation. It seems that he was transformed into a bird.”
“A bird?”
“It seems that he got transformed into a crow by the sorcerer.
“Do you think it's the crow that has built a nest on the roof of our house?”
“Probably. You should expel this sorcerer as soon as possible from your house, or else, he will bring misfortunes to your home.”
“It has been more than a misfortune already! Tell me, how to withdraw the curse from Rajiv?”
“Let me see... He is a very powerful sorcerer. However, he must have a weak point. Let me see the divination water. Aha! He can't eat the tulsa leaf. Tulsa leaf can lift the curse.
“I have noticed he eats no vegetables. I remember Rajiv used to live only on vegetables.”
“Well, take this tulsa leave and put into his food. This shall take off the sorcerer's mask!
Nariya gets home and prepares rice cakes with tulsa leaves.
“Rajiv my husband. I have prepared your favorite rice cakes! You have been so picky with the food that I don't know anymore what to cook. As I know that you're crazy about rice cakes, I have prepared them to you with a lot of love. I hope it'll cheer you up!”
Gadja thought about refusing the rice cakes. He felt something strange in the air. Nonetheless, in order to appease Nariya, he decides to have a rice cake with tulsa leaves. He then gets a bite and screams:
“Cunning woman! You've uncovered my secret!”
As he complained to Nariya, the image of Rajiv becomes of an old sorcerer, revealing his true self. Gadja then gets up and tries to attack Nariya. The sorcerer grabs her and when he was about to spank her, there comes Rajiv as a crow, assaulting Gadja's eyes. Gadja screams out loud in pain, letting go of the woman. He falls to the ground twisting himself and disappearing as a dark cloud.
“Cree, cree, cree.” Rajiv tries to talk to his wife.
“Is it you Rajiv? What he has done to you!?”
Nariya starts crying for the misfortune in her family. She hugs her husband that had become a crow and begins her sad weeping.
Right at that moment, Upani the goddess of the mountain appears, for she could not take anymore suffering and misfortune in a family of virtuous persons.
“Calm down. Do not cry, I will lift the curse.” Says Upani.
The goddess evokes nature's powers and transforms the crow in Nariya's arm in Rajiv again. “It's a miracle! It's a miracle! Oh goddess! I don't know how to thank you.” Says wailing Nariya.
“You just need to worship me on every second moon of the month. I could not take anymore disgrace in such a nice family.
“Rajiv, my husband!”
“Nariya, I thought that it would'nt have an end to it!”
This is how Rajiv and Nariya started worshiping Upani, the goddess of the mountain, on the second moon of every month with feast, chanting and hymns. Rajiv builds a temple to adore the goddess in the village and everyone in the village starts worshiping the goddess.