Translated by Arthur W. Ryder
A goblin told the king a riddle. If the king gets the riddle wrong, the goblin leaves and he has to go back to the sissoo tree to get another goblin. If the king gets it right, then the goblin continues on the journey back with him to the monk.
On a certain day each year, people from all over came to the city named "Beautiful" to bathe in a lake which they called Bath of Gauri. A certain fellow went, and saw a beautiful girl there. He asked her what her name is and about her family. When he got back home, he was literally lovesick. His father noticed, and asked him why he was acting that way. After finding out, the father went to the girl's father to ask her if the boy could have his daughter. The father agreed, and they got married.
One day, while at their home, the girl's brother came and invited them back for a festival back at the parents house. They went back, and together the three of them went to the temple to pray to the goddess. The boy told them that he would go in and pray first, but when he did he wanted to sacrifice himself in order to honor her. The brother went in after a little while to see what was taking so long, and when he found him dead on the floor, he did the same and cut his head off. The girl went in to see what the deal was, and when she saw them dead on the floor, she was so upset as to why the goddess would do that to them. She started to make a noose for herself, and asked the goddess to give her the same brother and husband in every future life. However, a voice from the heavens called down and told her to place the heads back on the bodies. The girl, in a hurry, accidentally put her brother's head on her husband's body, and her husband's head on her brother's body.
The goblin asked the king which body was her husband, and the king replied that the body with her husband's head is her husband because the head is the most important body part. With this being said, the goblin hopped down and went back to the sissoo tree.
My thoughts
This was one of the more interesting riddles that I had read through, and I thought I could potentially turn this into something of my own. I'm not quite sure what I can do with this, but I know it will definitely be fun to write!
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