THE GENIE AND THE WISE PEASANT PART 1

THE GENIE AND THE WISE PEASANT 

By C V Shamil Abishek

 Once upon a time, there lived a poor peasant. His name was Jacob. He had very little money. One day he was traveling to sell his harvested items. He had just entered the city, when suddenly a dust storm blew against his face. He wiped the dust off his face, and there before him appeared a genie“Who is it?” shouted the genie. “A poor peasant my lord,” said Jacob stammering. “How dare you wake me up from my sleep”, he yelled at him.  “I am so sorry oh genie,” he stammered as he apologized for his behavior. “So, what’s your name”, the genie asks angrily.“It is Jacob my lord,” he answered shivering with fear. “I am so hungry now,” the genie said furiously. “I need some human flesh, need them badly,” he grunted. “Have mercy on me oh lord,” said Jacob still shivering with horror in his eyes. “ OK, just answer three questions and I will leave you,” he said, rubbing his chin, with a mischievous smile. “But if you fail to answer these questions …,” he continued as his eyes grew wide with anger “I will gobble you up.” The poor peasant felt a little relieved now. “Here is a piece of paper, it contains the questions. You give me the replies within one week,” he roared. Genie then tied a rope’s end in his own ankle and attached the other end in the peasant’s ankle. Then the Genie said, “See this is a magical rope. It is an endless rope you can travel very far away and go any where you want to, but the moment one week is over, I will pull you back”, he said.                                                Jacob traveled for 3 days. He saw the rope tied in his ankle and he knew he could not escape. Then he sat down near a banyan tree. He opened the folded paper the genie had given him. All of a sudden, the paper began to speak. “It is a formless object, but it is not an amoeba, it changes its colours, but it is not Chameleon, too much of it could take our lives away, but we still need it, what is it?,” said the paper in a humorous tune .

              Jacob nearly fainted, and then he realized that it was a magical paper. It took him a while to recover from his shock. Then he began to think about the question. He began to think hard. After thinking a while, he went in search of water. Then suddenly he thought about water. “It is a formless object, it changes its colours, when it is put in a blue vessel it appears blue,” he thought with enthusiasm. “Too much of it will kill us,” he paused and said jumping with joy “And the answer to that is tsunami.” He took the magic paper and yelled, “The answer is water, water,” he repeated it twice with joy. “Your answer is correct,

Your answer is correct,” it said in a low humorous tune. He was in high spirits now.                                                                                                              

              Now it began to ask the second question. “It lives in water, it is born in water but it is not a fish, it also lives out of water, but it is not a frog, then what is it?,” it asked in its usual mocking tune. “What must be the answer,” Jacob wondered, scratching his head fiercely.

              Two days were over, and still he had no answer. He started to moan. “It lives in water, it is also born in water but it is not a fish, it also lives out of water, but it is not a frog, then what is it,” he repeated to himself. “It must be a plant!” he exclaimed happily. “It lives in water; there are aquatic plants that also live out of water,” he exclaimed merrily. He took the paper in his hand and screamed the answer so loudly that a deaf person near him turned around, frightened. “Your answer is correct, your answer is correct,” the paper said in a low humorous tune. He was on cloud nine now. There is one more question to answer before Jacob to taste freedom                        

              He than went inside a thick forest in search of water. There he opened the paper to face his next challenge. “It is produced in many colours. However, its original colour is orange. It keeps us warm but it is not fire. It helps us see in the dark, but it is not a torch light. It helps us to be relaxed, but it is not a book. It helps us to live as well us to die, what it is then,” it asked in a funny tune.  Jacob looked dumbfounded. He was just speechless as pressure took over his body. He got up and started walking. His eyes were filled with tears and fear. He thought about it again and again. Nevertheless, his mind did not give him any suggestions.