Yoshuma was witnessing one of the most defining moments of his country. His was a small island that was being ruled by a very cruel ruler for the past century. The people spent their lives as slaves. They worked from dawn to dusk ...were whipped for every small thing and were given food barely enough for their starved stomachs.No one could do anything to change this situation for every single rebellion was crushed at it's onset. Yoshuma grew up seeing his parents suffer like this and one day his father died of illness. The mother and son could do nothing to save him. His mother continued with her life of slavery ..Yoshuma would see her working towards her death...see her moan with pain in the nights for the floggings that she would get for any little break that she would take during work...break to feed Yoshuma...break to feed her starving guts ...break to hold her wailing child to her breast ...there was no mercy . Yoshuma would see all this suffering and it would make him angrier by the day . What could he do ? He was angry ...very angry with God . He told himself that God did not love him. would he be subjected to such a life if he did? Never....
Years passed by and Yoshuma was now a handsome young boy of twenty. Suddenly the unexpected happened. The cruel king died of old age. He did 'nt have an heir so the country was liberated of the long tyranny.The man of the highest religious order of the country had a dream in which he saw the face of the new king . Taking it to be God's message the man announced his dream and lo! Yoshuma was the face in his dream . He was now the new king. He soon took on to his new important role as the ruler of the country. He was seen to be a very benovalent king who loved his people with all his heart . There was no one in the country who had any grievances against him . He made everybody happy . His mother was very old now and he saw to it that she was looked after well in every possible way. He wanted to wipe away all her pain of those past years completely by infinite love and care.One thing he could not do in all this change ...he could not take back his complain against God that he nurtured through all these years....He still held on to his belief that God did not love him.
He got married to a girl he fell in love with and made her the queen . The queen loved her husband from all her heart and she would try to tell her husband to let go off his grudge against God. She would tell him that he was the best king that the country had ever had and that was possible only because of God.He would quietly say that he will show her some day that how God really did not love him. The queen would sigh and let him be...
One night the queen woke up to a terrible dream. She woke the king and told him about her dream . She had seen that the king was searching for her crying out her name in some forest but she was no where to be found.Yoshuma hugged his wife and said it was just a dream...forget it..Next morning the queen again brought up her dream....She said were they being warned of some upcoming danger ?The king rubbished her fears fondly . He was about to leave for a country visit. The queen held him and pleaded for the cancellation of this trip . The king did not heed to her pleadings and set off leaving her in a state of fear and apprehension. In a couple of hours the king of the neighbouring island attacked the palace with his huge army. He had got to know from his spies about the king's visit so he had come fully prepared. He ransacked the whole place taking away all the precious things and jewels along with the king's beautiful wife.
Yoshuma rushed back to his palace as soon as he was informed about the attack but everything was gone . His dear wife was gone ...He did not know what to do . He called for his army and charged towards the direction his enemy had gone . After chasing them for a few days he came by the sea. His enemy had fled but what was it that he was seeing? He was seeing the mast of a ship going down and down in water. Shortly he learnt that his enemy had been drowned in the sea....along with his dear dear wife.
Yoshuma could not take this grief too well and gave away his kingdome. One day he saw God come in his dream to console him . Yoshuma said bitterly,''so God you never have loved me ....why?''
God smiled at him and putting his hand lovingly on his head said,''why son ,I have always loved you so much. Why else would I change the times and make you the king?Give you such a loving partner to make your life beautiful and happy?''God continued,''but son you always held on to your grudge against me and so could not see my love.'' ''why did you make my parents suffer so much if you say you loved me?''countered Yoshuma....''Son how would you value the day if you have not seen the night?'' ''But you took my wife away'' Yoshuma cried out indignantly....''she was my love''...''and you did not pay heed to the pleadings of your love? was that not my love for you that I warned you of the imminent separation through her dream?''God vanished and Yoshuma lay there looking blankly up to the sky.
Only one grudge and he had to pay through life? Yoshuma was in a state beyond answer........
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