Babu and Bikram

Babu and Bikram

There was a country called Mithila. In that country there was a very big forest. In that forest lived a very big lion which used to kill all people who enter the forest. All people avoided going to the forest. Then the lion started entering near by villages and towns and started killing people. The king of Mithila announced that his daughter whoever will kill the lion. Many people tried but nobody succeeded. In a small village in Mithila there was a poor man. He had two sons-Babu and Bikram. While Babu was a very nice, pious and good boy, Bikram was a cruel, selfish and bad boy. Both of them went to the king and told him that they are prepared to go and kill the lion. To give them equal chances, the king asked them to enter the forest from opposite directions. As soon as Babu entered the forest, the God of the forest met him and gave him a divine bow and arrow. He told Babu, “I am giving you this because you are very good boy. If you shoot the arrow using this bow, the lion will surely die.” Babu fell at the feet of the god and took the bow and arrow with him .As soon as he saw the lion, he shot an arrow and the lion died. He cut the tail of the lion and took it along with him to prove that he had killed the lion. On his way, he met his brother Bikram. Bikram became very jealous but told Babu, “ Wonderful, I will also come along with you to the king.” While they were going, they had to cross a river. Bikram pushed Babu inside the river and took the Lion’s tail to the king. King was overjoyed on hearing that the lion has been killed. The king thought that the lion must have killed Babu. Since the princess was very sick, the king told Bikram that he would give her in marriage after six months only. Bikram was made to stay in a big house and given what all he wanted. Meanwhile a hunter happened to cross the river in which Babu was pushed in. He saw on the shore of a river, A bone. Just for fun he took the bone. Then the bone started singing, “The lion was great, Babu was good, Bikram was bad, Babu killed the lion, And Bikram killed Babu.” The hunter took this singing bone to the king. The king immediately understood the real story. The got Bikram arrested and put in jail. The king, his daughter went near the river in which Babu was killed to put some flower to honour him. As soon as they put the flower, Babu arose alive from the river. The God of the forest gave him life.

Babu married the princess and lived happily for several years and became king of Mithila.