The Nereid and the King's Servant

A loyal servant plunges blind into the sea; his king later plunges after him toward a prize he already knows is there. Which of the two showed the greater courage?

Sattvasila, a poor but devoted servant, plunges into an unknown sea to save his king's ship, with no map and no hope of reward, and discovers a golden city and a beautiful maiden. His king, told exactly what waits below, then plunges in after her. Both leapt into the same sea. Which showed the greater courage? You judge first, then the king does.

The Burning Ground

The night was old now, and the corpse hung in the tree as it always did. The king climbed for it and shouldered it, and walked out again across the ash. The Vetala, tireless, began another tale.

The Servant Who Leapt First

King Chandasimha of Tamralipti had among his people a poor and devoted dependent named Sattvasila, a man of steady character who served him faithfully for years and asked for nothing in return. His devotion had been proven long before: on a hunt, when the king was worn out and lost in the wild, it was Sattvasila alone who stayed with him and saw him through.

One day Sattvasila was sailing on the king's business when the ship was stopped in the open sea by a marvel. A golden flagstaff rose straight out of the water in the middle of the ocean, and the ship could not move past it. Without knowing what the staff was, or what lay beneath the waves, or whether any reward or even any bottom waited below, and with no thought of gain but only to free the ship and serve his king, Sattvasila plunged over the side into the deep sea.

And down in the depths he found a wonder: a shining city of gold and jewels, and within it a maiden of the Asura race, the daughter of Kalanemi, more beautiful than anyone of the upper world. He came back up alive, and told the king everything he had seen.

The king, hearing of the golden city and the maiden, went to that same spot in the sea and plunged in himself, and in time won her for his own. So both men had leapt into the same deep water. The only question was which of the two had shown the greater courage in the leap.