The Priest and his Three Tigers

In a dense forest, in a small hut there used to live a priest. He had three pet tigers. The names of the three tigers were Shiva, Jana and Hema. They listened to whatever the priest said. The three tigers were very dear to the priest. One day the priest had gone into the woods to gather fruits, on the other side Shiva, Jana and Hema were playing at the courtyard of the hut. At that moment a hunter named Jaga captured Shiva and Hema in his nets. Jana escaped and ran to its master to give him the news. The priest hurried back home with Jana. Uttering some magic words he tore Shiva and Hema’s net. Jaga, the hunter, seeing the priest’s powers got scared and ran away.

Again a few days later the priest went into the woods to gather fruits. Shiva, Jana and Hema started playing at the courtyard of the hut. That day King Shyamchandra of Dubarajpur took his ‘Sipahi’ and ‘Mantri’ for hunting in that forest. Seeing the tigers at play the King could not control his greed. He captured all the three tigers and took them to his palace. The priest came back and saw that his dear, beloved Shiva, Jana and Hema were not there. He started looking for them around the forest but found them nowhere. Then the priest through meditation came to know that the three tigers were in the palace at Dubarajpur. Immediately the priest started on his way to Dubarajpur carrying some food with himself. When he reached the palace he saw a huge gate and many guards in front of it. The priest said some magic words to tie up the guards tightly with a rope. He then straight entered the palace. He started looking for Shiva, Jana and Hema around the huge palace. After a long search he found the three tigers tied up in a chain and left helplessly on the terrace of the palace. The tigers felt very happy on seeing the priest. The priest used his magical words to free them from the chain and started on their way back home. Suddenly King Shyamchandra came and stood in the way of the priest. The king took out his sword to cut off the priest’s head when the priest’s rope tied the king up tightly. The priest returned to his hut with his beloved Shiva, Jana and Hema.  After this, whenever the priest went to the woods to gather fruits he took Shiva, Jana and Hema with him.