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Main > Indian folktales > Fairy tale "The Wanderings of Vicram Maharajah"

The Wanderings of Vicram Maharajah

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"Then," said the vizier, "ask the wizard to give you the power."

Next morning Vicram Maharajah went to have his final interview with the wizard. And the carpenter's son went, too, in order to overhear it.

The wizard said to the rajah, "Vicram, what gift do you choose?"

"Oh wizard," answered the king, "Already I have plenty of wealth and power from being rajah. And of long life, health, and happiness, I would rather take my chances with other men. But there is a power which I desire above all else."

"Name it, oh good son of a good father," said the wizard.

"Most wise wizard," replied Vicram Maharajah, "give me the power to leave my own body when I want, and translate my soul and sense and thinking powers into any other body that I choose, either of man, bird, or beast - whether for a day, or a year, or for twelve years, or as long as I like; grant also that however long the term of my absence, my body may not decay, but that when I please to return to it again, I may find it still as fresh as when I left it."

"Vicram," answered the wizard, "your wish is fulfilled," and he instructed the king by what means he should translate his soul into another body, and also gave him something which, being placed within his own body when he left it, would preserve it from decay until his return.

The carpenter's son, who had been all this time listening outside, heard and learned the spell whereby the wizard gave Vicram Maharajah the power to enter into any other body; but he could not see or find out what was given to the king to place within his own body when he left it, to preserve it; so he was only master of half the secret.

Vicram Maharajah returned home and told Butti that he now knew the much-desired secret. "My first journey," he said to Butti, "will be to fly to Pomegranate country and bring back for you Anar Ranee, for I know that from the time the two of you chanced to meet years ago, you have desired one another.

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