0074. Death and the Four Doors

From Told by the Ayah by Advena Hearle, online at: Internet Archive.

Notes. You can read more about Yama, the God of Death, at Wikipedia. For another story of bargaining with Death, see: Ruru and Pramadvara.

Summary: A young woman marries a man who will die young, but she uses her wits to try to save his life.

Read the story below:

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DEATH AND THE FOUR DOORS

(Yama, the God of Death)

The Raja's ill-fated son

There was once a Raja who had great possessions but no son to inherit them, and he would have given half he owned for an heir. One night in a dream he was told that at last a son should be born to his house; but that the boy's life would be short, and as soon as he was grown up he must die.

The Raja's feelings were of mixed joy and sorrow, but when at last the prophecy came true, he loved his son all the more intensely, because he had waited for him so long and must lose him so soon.

He told no one of the secret sorrow in his heart, however, until his son was full grown and was of an age to marry. Then, much as he longed to see him united to one of the neighbouring Princesses, his conscience would hardly allow him to suggest an alliance which should so soon turn the bride into a widow, for in India the fate of a young widow is the very saddest that can happen to any girl.

Chandni, the Vizier's daughter

Luckily, the Raja had a very wise and trusted Vizier, and he at last took this man into his confidence, and asked his advice about his son's wedding. The Vizier had no advice to offer on the spot, but begged for twenty-four hours in which to consider the matter. He did this so frequently about affairs of State that the Raja thought nothing of it, nor did he suspect the real reason.

The Vizier had one daughter, called Chandni, who was as good as she was beautiful, and so gifted with wisdom that her father was accustomed to ask her advice about any question of diplomacy or State where he doubted his own judgment.

When he had laid the matter of the Prince and his wedding before Chandni, the girl was so filled with pity for the young man and his father, and so conscious of the dilemma the latter was in, that she considered a minute or two in silence; then she said: "Oh, my father, if it be your will, let me marry the Prince. It may be that some means will be found to stay the hand of Fate; but if it be written upon his forehead that he must die young and his wife be soon a widow, to me be granted the blessing of making his last few days happy."

At first her father would not hear of such a thing, for he loved his daughter intensely; but at last she so won upon him with her sweet insistence that he carried her proposal to the King.

The Raja, who knew of her beauty and wisdom, and was well aware that she came of noble blood, did not withhold his consent, and the Prince was delighted with all he heard about the bride-elect, so the marriage was speedily arranged, and the preparations carried out with as little delay as possible.

The bride's request

The bride made one peculiar request. She had a small pavilion or pleasure-house built in the jungle outside the city, in which to spend her honeymoon. This house stood in a garden on high ground near the main road, and was square, with one door in each of its four sides.

When the marriage ceremony was over, Chandni and her husband went to the pavilion in the jungle, and after a collation had been served to the newly-married pair, the bride dismissed all her servants, and herself waited upon the Prince. Before retiring, however, she carefully closed all four doors and set a guard at each.

On the threshold of the north door she laid some rice, and said: "Guard him well, O Grain!"

At the south door she set fire in a chirag, and said: "Guard him well, O Fire!"

At the east door she laid a handful of earth, and said: "Guard him well, O Earth!"

And on the west she poured water, and said: "Guard him well, O Water!"

Death at the north door

When the night was far spent, Death came to the north door and knocked for admittance, for he had come for the soul of the Raja's son.

But the rice that was on guard said: "You cannot enter here. If you pass this portal I will cause all my children to wither and be barren, and a great famine shall sweep over the land, and then heavy will be your work, O Death!"

Death at the east door

So Death turned away from that door, and sought entrance at the east. Here the earth was on guard, and this, too, spoke: "Pass not by here, or I will shake and heave throughout my length and breadth, and many shall fall by my quakings, and others shall need you for the pestilence which I will send abroad. Do you wish for so much work as that. Great Death?"

And Death, who was weary, did not wish it, and turned away.

Death at the south door

Next he came to the south door, and here the fire shot up and barred the way. "Back, O Death!" it said. "If you pass me by and enter, I will send forth my flames to devastate the earth and swallow up forests and men and beasts. Would so great work suit you?"

And Death turned aside.

Death at the west door

At the west door the water was on guard, and that, too, threatened Death with work from flood and tempest if an entrance was forced.

Soon the morning broke, and Death, leaving the attempt to gain the Prince's soul for the present, took his departure.

Chandni, listening within, heard all, but knew that she would still have to be very watchful, for Death would be sure to come again soon.

Death in disguise

One day, as she looked along the road, she saw an old and crippled woman coming through the heat and dust. She knew at once that this was Death come in disguise to try and effect an entrance into the pavilion. Without hesitating, she rose and went towards the old woman, carrying with heir cool, fresh water in a
basin.

"Mother," said the Princess, gently, "rest here in the shade while I bathe your feet from the dust of the road."

With her own soft little hands she poured the scented water over the tired feet, and the old woman looked down, refreshed, and blessed her.

"What can I give you in exchange for what you have done for me?" asked the old cripple, not suspecting that Chandni had seen through the disguise.

Then the young wife prostrated herself at the feet of Death and prayed for the life of her husband.

But Death was sad, for the boon was not his to give.

"I serve a higher Power," he said, "and do but obey orders. Where I am told to go, I go, being but a servant."

Chandni's prayer

"Then," said the Princess, growing bolder, "go back to that Great One and ask of Him this boon that I crave of you. Surely He will relent and grant that which is so little a thing in itself — the life of just one man."

Death rose and turned his back upon the pavilion.

"If I do not return tomorrow," he said, "you will know that your prayer has been granted;" and he passed away out of Chandni's sight.

And Death did not come back the next day, nor the next, nor the next ; and Chandni and her Prince lived to see their sons and daughters grow up to honour around them; and Chandni herself was held in higher and higher love and reverence by her father and her King, her husband and her children and her people.