The admirer changes the court poet's nature

There was a great poet who was attached to a particular court. The king admired this poet tremendously, but unfortunately, the poet had a disagreeable nature. He was not at all amicable. He would not talk with others or mix with them. Everyone thought he was very rude and indifferent. They did not realise that he was extremely shy. Whenever the king requested him to read out his poems, he did so, and his poems were simply excellent. That is why the king was very, very pleased with him. But with regard to his nature, nobody was able to appreciate him, and they begged the king to replace him.

This court poet had a great admirer of his poetry who happened to work at the palace. This admirer felt sad and miserable that people were speaking ill of the poet. He felt that he had to do something for him. He said, “I have to change his nature by begging and begging him to be more friendly and sociable.”

The court poet spent his days at the palace, and at night he would return home. One evening, when the poet’s palace duties were over, this particular admirer went to his house. The poet’s wife said, “My husband is not here. He has gone out. I have no idea when he is going to come back.” She was only protecting her husband. He was actually there in the house.

On the second evening, the admirer came again and said, “Just for a few minutes I would like to speak to your husband.”

The poet’s wife said, “My husband is doing something very, very important, and he says he will not be able to see you.”

Again, on the third evening, the admirer knocked on the poet’s door. This time the poet himself came out and started insulting him. He said, “Why do you have to come and bother me? You see me at the palace. Why do you have to come here? I come here for peace. It is my home. Leave this place immediately. If you do not go away from my door, tomorrow I will make complaints to the king against you. I will tell him that you are bothering me unnecessarily. This is the third night that you have come here. I do not want to have anything to do with you.” The great poet was extremely rude to this young man, who was his sincere admirer. Then he went inside the house and slammed the door.

The poor admirer felt miserable. He said, “Here I am desperately trying to change his nature so that everybody in the palace will grow to love him, and he is only scolding me and insulting me. What shall I do now? Perhaps people are right when they speak ill of him. He seems to be really a bad man. But I must change his nature. How can I do it?”

One day this young admirer went to another city and made arrangements to read out poems. The people in that particular city did not know what the famous court poet looked like. The young man stayed in a hotel, and when he registered, he wrote down the poet’s name. Everybody was so excited to learn that the greatest poet had come to their city. Word spread like wildfire!

It happened that at the same time, the court poet received an urgent message that his brother had passed away. This brother happened to live in that particular city where the false poet was supposed to give his poetry reading. So the court poet went to that city. On the way, he said to himself, “It is getting dark. Why bother my family members at this hour? Tomorrow morning I shall see them. Now let me take a room in the hotel.”

He went to the same hotel and wanted to register in his own name. The people at the desk started laughing at him. They said, “There is no vacancy. You can stay outside.”

He said, “Do you know who I am? I am the court poet. Every day I go to the king’s palace. Tomorrow I will make complaints against your hotel. The king himself will hear of it!”

They said, “Go and make complaints! You are such a rogue. There is no room for you here. You can sleep outside on the veranda. We can give you a pillow. You say you are the greatest poet. You are such a liar!”

He said, “I am a liar?”

“Yes, you are a liar,” they said.

The court poet was outraged. He said, “How do you dare to call me a liar? I am the greatest poet in the kingdom.”

They said, “Already the greatest poet is here in our city, and you are stealing his name. Tonight he will give a poetry reading. He is staying at this hotel, so you cannot fool us.” They were about to beat up the famous poet.

The poet was curious to know the truth of the matter, so he said, “Please, please forgive me. I want to see the real poet.”

They brought his admirer and the court poet said, “What are you doing here?”

The young man said, “I am going to do something here that will help you.”

The court poet said, “What are you going to do? Why have you used my name?”

The young man said, “Tonight many people will flock to hear your poems. I will read them out to the best of my ability. Most of the people do not know what you look like, so they will think that I am the creator. Then afterwards I will give each member of the audience something nice to eat for taking the trouble of coming here to listen to your poetry. I will mix with everyone. I will be as kind, compassionate and affectionate to them as possible.”

The court poet said, “What are you doing this for?”

The young man said, “Then the news will spread all around that you have changed your nature, that you are no longer the same rude, callous and indifferent person. I love you so much. I admire you, and I want others to do the same. I want the whole country to know that you are not a bad person. You are a very good person, but you keep your good qualities hidden.”

Then the real poet started shedding tears. He embraced his admirer and said, “You have changed my life. From tomorrow on, I shall become as kind as possible to whomever I meet. I will always be kind to my dear ones, my friends and admirers. I will transform my outer nature.”