THE WORST ENEMY
-3. Arrogance Pays!

Prince Mahirat was feeling proud in his heart that he had managed to give his father the slip.  Now, he would show the King that he could take care of himself and did not require his help in this regard!

After a long ride, he and his guards reached the forest of Kallari.  As it was very difficult to take the horses along inside the dense forest, they decided to keep them outside, posted two guards to take care of them and entered the forest. 

“I want all of you to stay on guard and be alert!  Let’s move!” the Prince cautioned his men. 

For some time, there was an eerie silence all around with only the occasional chirping of birds that flew in a flock.  All of them had a tough time putting aside the long and thorny bushes that came their way as they moved along in the forest.  Once they had gone deep inside the forest, the atmosphere became more tense with the intermittent howling of the jackals, the menacing roar of the lions and the hissing of the snakes. 

On one occasion, a huge reptile took one of the guards by surprise and coiled itself round his body.  He cried out for help that made all the others look behind.  Mahirat, like the others, stood frozen in his place for some moments seeing the size and length of the snake.  Then, showing good presence of mind he removed his dagger in a flash and pierced it through the body of the snake.  The others followed suit and attacked the snake with spears that instantly killed it and it fell to the ground.  They had never seen such a large snake ever before in their lives! 

“Are you fine?”  Mahirat asked the terrified guard.

“Y…Yes, sire!  Thank you all for your timely help!” the guard expressed his gratitude.   “I told you to be on guard!  Come on!  Let’s move!”  the Prince ordered his men.  As they moved along, Prince Mahirat spotted a leopard and quickly took aim to make it a victim of his arrow.  Unfortunately, there was another leopard to his right which was hiding among the bushes that suddenly leapt at him. Luckily, a guard saw the leaping leopard and threw his spear at it crying aloud, “Prince! Duck! Please duck, O Prince!”  While the spear missed it’s target, Mahirat, ducked just in time as the leopard went a few inches over his head and landed on the ground.  Before it could make it’s next move, the guards attacked it with their arrows and spears and killed the animal.  Mahirat looked at the leopard he had initially spotted but could not find it.  Apparently, it had got frightened by all that had happened there and had run away to safety.  One of the elderly guards came forward and spoke with the Prince, “It is now getting dark and therefore not advisable to go further in this forest.  I have heard that there are some ferocious jungle tribes living here which could prove dangerous for us.  If you permit, can we return back to the palace?” 

“No!…” denied the Prince stoutly, “… Till I hunt down any wild animal successfully, we are not going to go back!  Let’s go!” 

The others had to acquiesce and they proceeded further deep into the forest.

As they were moving along, suddenly some fierce looking jungle men emerged from the bushes who were armed with bows and arrows.  One among them came forward and asked them something which was illegible for Mahirat and his men.  Still, from his actions the Prince surmised that he was asking them about their identity.  He tried to explain by words and also by actions who he was but in vain.  None of the jungle folks could understand him.  Then, the jungle man gestured them to look up and there, high up in the impenetrable trees they found more of their tribesmen sitting with arrows affixed to their bows that were aimed at them!  Then, the jungleman again spoke something that none of the Prince and his men could understand.  Then, he gesticulated them to throw away their arms.  Realising that they had no chance against these men for they clearly outnumbered his troops, a shaken Mahirat kept his weapons down and asked the others to do the same.  Thereby, the jungle men tied the unarmed men to nearby trees and asked something which all of them failed to answer for their language was incomprehensible.  Thereby, they gathered together and were engaged in some discussion.  By this time, Mahirat had realised his folly.  In one moment all his arrogance and egotism lay shattered and he was now a heart-broken man!   The very thought that he had ignored the valuable piece of advice of his parents and even that of one of his guards, moments ago, made him feel miserable. The conversation he had with his parents and the manner in which he had quite foolishly ridiculed their concern over his decision to go the Kallari forest for hunting, came flashing back to his mind and was filled with regret.  He was so happy to have given his father “the slip” who wanted to come along with him to this forest and now he may have to pay for that with his life!  Mahirat closed his eyes and prayed to God to protect him and his guards.  He made a firm resolution in his mind that he would never act against the wishes of his parents in the future.  As he opened his eyes, he found the jungle men still conversing with each other.  Who were these fierce-looking men?  What did they want of him?  Why have they tied up them like this to trees?  As he pondered over what would happen next, the jungle man who had conversed with him earlier came up to him and moved the tip of his arrow to Mahirat’s throat and spoke something.  This hurt the Prince slightly and he was immensely angered.  Although his hands were tied, his legs were free.  He kicked the jungle man hard in his knee with all his might so much so that the latter fell to the ground groaning in pain.  This angered the others but before they could do anything, the fallen jungle man stood up and stopped them.  He told them something as if to say that “he is mine!”, fixed an arrow to his bow and aimed at Mahirat’s chest!  The other guards tried to free themselves and shouted, “Don’t kill him!  He is our Prince!  Kill us but don’t harm him!”  However, the jungle man least understood what they said and was about to pull the string of his bow!