Children's Stories: Man Gets What He is Destined To

     Once, a merchant’s son purchased a book that had just one sentence. The sentence was ‘Man gets what he is destined to’. The merchant was annoyed at the foolishness of his son who paid Rs.100 for a book that had just one sentence. So, he expelled the son out of his house. The boy went to another city to begin a new life with the name Prapta.
     Princess Chandravati lived in the same city. She fell in love with a handsome warrior whom she saw at a fair. She asked her maid to arrange a meeting with him. The maid in turn secretly invited the handsome warrior to the palace that night.  She instructed the warrior to climb over the wall with the help of a rope that would be hanging there.
     The warrior eventually lost interest in meeting the princess. He decided not to meet the princess. At the same time, Prapta was moving around aimlessly in the city when he saw a rope hanging by the palace. He went up the rope out of curiosity and found himself in the princess’ bedroom.

     The princess said, “I have fallen in love with you” mistaking him for the warrior, to which Prapta replied, “Man gets what he is destined to.”
     When princess realised this man was not the warrior, she asked him to go away at once.  Prapta left the palace and arrived at a temple to sleep where the sheriff of the city came to hold a secret meeting. He told Prapta to sleep at his house. 
    When Prapta reached sheriff’s house, his daughter Vinayawati mistook him for her lover and married him according to Gandharva tradition. When Vinayawati asked Prapta to say something, he recited his usual verse about destiny. She asked him to leave at once.
     Prapta once again took to the street. He saw a marriage procession when an elephant went berserk and headed for the marriage venue. The bridegroom and his party fled the scene of the marriage.
     Prapta saw the frightened bride alone. Taking great courage he drove away the elephant with a stick. Prapta held the bride’s hand as a token of assurance. Meanwhile,   as peace returned, the bride’s father, a merchant along with the marriage party came back to the venue. The daughter told her father, “This brave man saved me from the mad elephant. I won’t marry anyone but him.”
     Hearing the commotion the princess and the king came to the wedding venue to see what happened. The sheriff’s daughter also came there. The king asked Prapta to tell him everything without fear. Prapta as usual repeated the sentence.
     The sentence rang a bell in the princess’ head. The Sheriff’s daughter also remembered the sentence. The king, the Sheriff, and the merchant married their daughters to Prapta and the king gave him a thousand villages as gift. Every one thought ‘Even God cannot undo what is destined.’