Several years back in the antiquity, there lived a kingly king and a beautiful queen in a certain place who had vast swathes of land, thousands of servants, granaries full of grain and wealth more than enough for their opulently rich life style, but they were not happy as they didn’t have any heir. They had passed almost half span of their lives in the aspiration but were not endowed with any heir. One day a man came to them and told them that he had heard of a man --a sage, who cured barrenness both in men and women and suggested them to see him. The king leaving all his business at once set out on a journey towards the unknown destination to meet that blessed man. After several days of wearisome journey, wading tumultuous rivers, surmounting snow capped peaks, crossing sizzling hot deserts and wonderfully green meadows he arrived at the place. It was a charmingly beautiful green land having flowers of myriads of colours unseen by man and a foam-white stream meandering down the middle of it. He was resting there for a while amazed to see the unearthly beauty of the place when he saw a man with straggly hair, unshaven coarse beard and clad in tattered apparels busy in prayers. The king went to him and asked about the sage-known far and wide. He told the king that he himself was the man the king was in search of and asked why he sought him. He narrated his story to him which the sage listened to with great interest and then said,”I can cure your malady but on a condition.” The king said “Every condition is accepted before it is uttered. Ask whatever you wish.” The learned man gave him a talisman and prescribed to tie it round her wife’s arm and an apple, cleaved into two -- one to be eaten by the king himself and the other by his wife. The sage then said “You shall be given heirs if Allah wishes but you shall send me your third son. The third son is mine that’s my condition.” The king readily accepted the condition and bidding adieu to him resumed his journey back home. When he reached home the apple cleft was given to his wife and the other half was eaten by him and the amulet tied round his wife’s arm according to the prescription. The very same year his wife gave birth to their heir apparent, a baby boy and in the succeeding couple of years she begot two more sons but amongst his sons the third one was the most handsome, intelligent and obedient. With the course of time while living so blissfully he had forgotten his promise with the sage, who was the solo reason behind this blissful life. One day the queen asked him to return the belonging of the sage back to him. The king reminded his promise with the sage and with tears in his eyes narrated the story to his son, Yor Mas, so he was called because he was such a handsome youth that he was considered half sun and half moon. The son was so obedient that he said, “I will not break my father’s word and will not let his honour down at any cost.” So, without any delay he asked blessings of his parents and set out towards the sage. When the prince arrived the sage said, ‘I am very happy that the king had not forgotten his promise and you obediently obeyed him and left the palace to spend your life with a man of my humble fortunes.” The sage then said, “Now you shall go and find the dumb princess and marry her, this is my last wish.” The prince once more mounted his saddle and resumed his journey in search of the dumb princess. 02
Such was his personality that every person who saw him wanted to befriend him and never parted with him. During his travel he came across rats who were mourning, upon asking they told him that an enemy, a wolf-rat was taking a very heavy toll on them by killing their family members regularly. He told them not to worry and waited for the monster; when the wolf-rat arrived he killed it with his bow. The rats became so happy that they told him to call them anytime anywhere. The chief-rat gave him a hair plucking it out of his whiskers and asked him to apply it to fire whenever in need of them. Then two men came to him and requested him to allow them in his company, he said, “I am on a suicidal mission and don’t know whether I will be able to come back or not. Why would you spoil your lives”, but they adamantly replied that they would stand by him at any cost telling him that they would be of great use to him as one of them was called the Fire Mouth, as he belched out fire from his mouth and could singe anything within no time; the other was called The Ice Mouth, as his breaths were ice cold and could freeze anything in a few moments and. After travelling for many days they reached a place where they were told that there was a tradition of killing aliens who entered there without permission. The prince also came to know that the ruler was the very same man whose daughter, the dumb princess he was about to woo. Then prince Yor Mas and his friends were captured by the kings’ soldiers and presented them before the king. The king asked him about his errands and he boldly told the king that he had come to woo the dumb princes, his daughter. The king in seemingly calm posture said, “Many a handsome youth have come before you to woo my daughter but I sent them to the gallows for they were not apt suits for her. You will also be tested and if you pass the tests you will be married to my daughter and if failed, I shall hang you and your friends.” The prince replied, “I shall come up to your expectations your honour!” Then the king bid his soldiers to lock the strangers in the freezing room, in a temperature much below the freezing point. The king had thought that they wouldn’t survive the coldness but the Fire Mouth belched out tongues of fire and maintained the room temperature. When minions of the king came to see their fate in the morning they were astonished to see them fast asleep and upon asking about how the night was spent they replied the room needed another ventilator as it was too hot. The king was really surprised and sent them to the oven-hot room for the next night but it was the Ice Mouth’s turn now to make the room warm and to the surprise of the king and his courtiers they once more awakened from their sound sleeps. The next day he remembered the rats and called them by giving spark to the hair which the rat-commander had given him, the rats arrived in enormous number, he bid them to make a tunnel between his and the princess’s room. The rats dug the tunnel in no time and taking the name of Allah he entered into the tunnel which lead him to an apartment where the princess was being kept. She spoke with no one that why she was called the Dumb Princess. She was exceedingly beautiful and was attended by an old eunuch. The apartment was surrounded by a vast garden which seemed deserted; heavenly birds were there but silent, the flowers seemed withered, and the wind while striking the tiles seemed to be wailing on the sadness. The unmatchable beauty of the princess left him speechless and he stood there staring at her as if under some spell. The Dumb Princess at first got scared on such a sudden appearance of the prince and then she smiled on seeing him. It was a heavenly spectacle then as the birds that were silent started chirping, the tulips bloomed suddenly and the breeze whistled in a pleasant tone. The prince proposed her heartily which she accepted with all her heart and the next morning when the king woke up he wondered to see the sudden change in his orchards. The birds chirping, the swallows twittering, the orioles singing with beautiful notes and when the king spoke to his daughter she replied so beautifully as if tulips clad in words were dripping down her lips. The king hugged her and kissed her on her forehead and asked if she would marry her young suitor--- the prince Yor Mas--- she smiled ….
The marriage ceremony was celebrated with great pomp and show and the procession included several horses and mules laden with enormous dowry of jewels and pearls but the prince and the princes had no interest in wealth as they were the real gems made for each other. The three men also went with the procession to his father’s land. The king and the queen who had grown old in their son’s absence rejuvenated on seeing him back. The procession was welcomed with enthusiasm and great feasts were arranged, drums and kettle drums were beaten and marksmanship competitions were arranged in honour of the occasion.
