When King Mobutu was in his reign, there was a young man of Babylon named Chadig, who was a good man, and though he was young and rich in gold, he had no desires, and was not addicted to anything. He was a man of good character, and though he was young and rich in gold, he was pure in heart, and had no appetite. He was a man who was wise in his own way, and neither presumptuous nor forgiving of others. He also knew the metaphysics of the past and the present, and regardless of what the new philosophies of the time said, he was convinced that there were always three hundred and sixty-five days and a quarter of a year, and that the sun was the center of the universe. Churchmen said that he was not right-minded, and Chadig heard him without anger or contempt.
This upright and magnanimous young man, who thought he could live happily ever after in this way, was betrothed to the beautiful maiden Saimir. The affection of Chardigarh for Saimir was deep and noble; and the love of Saimir for Chardigarh was ardent. The happy day of the marriage drew near, and the two were strolling under the palm-trees along the banks of the Euphrates, and setting out for one of the gates of Babylon. Suddenly a group of thugs came on their way, forcibly trying to snatch Semir away. The leader was the nephew of a Babylonian minister named Ogon. He was jealous of Chadig's love and did whatever he wanted, relying on his uncle's power. Relying on the help of two slaves, Chadig used the strength that bravery and love had given him to fight off the strongman and escorted the bloodied Semir home.
Samir said, "Oh, Chardighar, I have always loved thee only because thou art my husband; now I love thee, and may think of thee as a benefactor who hath saved my name and my life."
Never was there a heart touched more y than that of Simeon's, nor was there ever a more charming mouth, with those fiery words, that spat out more stirring feelings than Simeon's; for it was the greatest of graces and the most just love that inspired them. She was, however, slightly wounded, and soon recuperated.
Chadig's wound, however, was a grievous one; an arrow was struck by the side of the eye, and the wound was so deep that he was almost blinded in the left eye. Fearing and loathing that her fiancé would become one-eyed, Semir married herself to Ogon three days later.
Chadig, hearing such unexpected news, was momentarily overcome with pain, but in the end reason overcame grief, and the cruelty of the encounter showed him a way out instead.
He said, "If a woman brought up in the court is so cruel and capricious to me, she might as well marry a commoner." Chardighar then picked out and married one of the most observant and innocent girls in the city, who was named Azora.
One day, when Azora came back from a walk, she was furious, and Chadig asked her, "My dear wife, what is the matter with you? Who has made you so angry?"
She said, "Alas! I have witnessed what I have witnessed, and if you had seen it, you would have limited me as well. I would have gone to comfort the young widow of Goslow. Only two days ago she had built a grave for her young husband, situated in that meadow surrounded by streams. She was so grief-stricken that she swore to all the gods that she would keep watch over the grave as long as the stream flowed beside it."
Chadig said, "Bravo! Now that is an honorable woman who truly loved her husband."
Azorah replied, "You can't imagine what she was doing when I went to visit her! --directing the stream elsewhere."
Atchora then cursed the young widow for her black heart. Chadig was also dismayed to hear this.
Chadig had a friend named Gatau, and they were like-minded, like brothers and sisters. One day, Chatig came up with a brilliant plan and told Gatau, hoping that he would try his best to help. On the third day, when she came home, the servants told her in tears that her husband had died the night before, and that he had buried him in his ancestral grave at the end of the garden, because he did not dare to report the murder. When Azora learned of her husband's death, she wept so bitterly that she pulled her hair and tried to make short work of it.
That night Gatau talked to her, and both wept. The next day, when the crying stopped, they ate lunch together and then stayed for dinner with Gatau. Halfway through dinner, Kato suddenly cried out that his spleen was in severe pain. The wife was anxious and attentive, and first brought her own make-up perfume to put on, and even went so far as to touch Gatau's sore chest, and asked sympathetically, "Does this painful disease happen often?"
Gatau replied, "Sometimes the pain is so great that it almost kills me, and there is only one way to stop the pain, and that is to get the nose of a man who has just died on the first day, and put it on the side of my chest."
Azora thought this medical practice was rather too odd. She thought that since her husband had died, when he passed from the present world to the next, it was not necessary that the god Ala'ee should not let him go through because his nose was shorter in the second world than in the first. So she took the razor, and went to her husband's grave, and having first doused it with tears, and having seen Chardighar lying straight and stiff within the cavity, she went in and cut his nose. At that moment, Chadig suddenly crawled up, covered his nose with one hand, blocked Atchora's razor with the other, and said, "Ma'am, stop scolding that young Goslow widow so fiercely; isn't the idea of cutting off my nose half as bad as the idea of rerouting the stream?"
Chadig, realizing that his lover had changed his mind, immediately withdrew her from the marriage. He thought it would be better for a man to demand happiness than to study nature. Chatig thought to himself, "God has set before our eyes a great book, and he who can read it is the happiest man in the world. He discovers truths that no one else can take away from him; he cultivates his mind and cultivates his body; he can live his life in peace, neither having to watch out for people nor having a Stepford wife to cut off his nose." With this thought, he decided to leave the city and head for the Euphrates.
One day he was walking in the woods when he was greeted by a group of the queen's eunuchs, followed by several officials, looking hurried. The chief eunuch asked Chardighar, "Hey, young man, have you seen the queen's dog?"
Chadig replied humbly, "Oh, it's a bitch, not a male, and a very small curly-haired dog that just had puppies not too long ago, with a lame front foot on the left side and long ears."
The chief eunuch panted, "So, you saw it?"
Chadig replied, "No."
While this was going on, one of the king's royal horses slipped away, and the Grand Secretary and the officials chased him all the way, just as anxious as the Chief Eunuch who was looking for the bitch. The Grand Secretary greeted Chadig and asked him if he had seen the royal horse run by.
Chadig replied, "That horse ran at a good pace, five feet tall, with very small hooves and a tail three and a half feet long ......"
The Dasima asked, "Where did it run? "
Chadig replied, "It was not seen at all."
Both the chief minister and the chief eunuch suspected that the king's horse and the queen's dog had been stolen by Chadig, so they took him to the governor's office for interrogation. The result of the trial was that he was sentenced to be flogged and then sent to Siberia for life. Only then was the sentence pronounced, and both the dog and the horse were found. The judge had to re-sentence and fined Chatig four hundred taels of gold. Chatig had to pay the fine in full before he could defend himself. His words were these:
"I swear by the holy name of the great God that I never saw the queen's precious dog, nor did I ever see the king's divine steed, but I judged only by the tracks left in the sand. I saw animal tracks in the sand, and at a glance they were the footprints of a small dog. The small mound of sand in the center of the footprints was lightly imprinted with some long stripes that I knew to be a bitch with sagging udders that had just given birth to puppies a few days earlier. Also, noting that one of the footprints in the sand was not as deep as the remaining three, I realized that the bitch was lame.
"As for the king's royal horse, let my lords hear this: I was walking in that forest, and I found traces of the hoofs of the horses in the forest, at equal distances from each other, and I thought to myself, "This horse is running at a good pace. The road in the forest is very narrow, only seven feet wide, on both sides of the woods away from the center of three and a half feet, the dust on the trees are given to brush off some of the dust, so I said, the horse's tail three and a half feet long; it swayed from side to side, brushing off the dust on the trees, the trees on both sides of the intersection of a ring of holes in the shape of a tree shade, five feet from the ground, you can know that the horse is five feet tall ...... "
The judges listened in admiration of Chadig's profound and careful discernment. The news reached the king and queen, who ordered that the four hundred taels of fines be paid back, but several priests felt that Chardighar should be burned as a demon. Chadig felt that it was too dangerous for a man to be too learned. He made up his mind never to tell the truth about what he knew.
Chadig, tormented by his fate, wanted to spend his time with philosophy and friendship. He had a house on the outskirts of Babylon, elegantly furnished, and well stocked with all the arts and amusements befitting a man of high rank. By day, all scholars could go to his library and read. In the evening, any man of high rank may dine at his house. He served a fine dinner, preceded by a concert. The talk at the table was so elegant and exuberant that he won the true respect of the people.
On the opposite side of his house lived a man named Alimas, who was quite unpopular in the social scene. Despite the wealth of his family, he could not even recruit ass-kissers. When he saw that Chandigarh's house was full of carriages and horses every night, he was y annoyed and was always looking for an opportunity to take revenge.
On one occasion, the red-eyed Alimas found half a stone slab in Chandigarh's garden with four phrases on it:
The sinful atrocities,
The high throne.
For the peace of the masses,
This is the only enemy.
Arimas took one look and was overjoyed; he recognized the poem as a clear word of insult to the king. He caught this and hastened to send it to the king. Without further ado, Chadig, his family and friends were imprisoned.
Just as Chardighar was about to be executed, the king's parrot flew out of the cloisters to the garden of Chardighar's house, where it stopped in the midst of a rosebush. A peach on a tree near by was blown by the wind and fell among the bushes, sticking to a slate used for writing. The parrot took the peach, attached to the slate, and flew straight into the king's lap. The king found it strange that the writing on the tablet made no sense, as if it were the end of a verse. While he was contemplating this, the queen called for the earlier half of the slate to be put together. In this way, the original verse of Chardighar was revealed in its entirety:
The atrocities of the most heinous sins have disturbed the clear sky;
High on the throne, the Holy Lord has suppressed all the evil demons.
For the peace of the masses, for the love of the people the mountains were conquered;
This is the only foe, worthy of the traitors' trepidation.
The king immediately summoned Chadig and ordered his friends and family to be released from prison. The false accuser, Alimas, was not in the picture, and was certainly punished as he deserved.
This coincided with the death of the chancellor, and the king appointed Chardighar to take over, which was welcomed by the wives of the city. Chardighar ruled by the law. The aphorism that "it is better to punish an innocent person than to pardon a guilty one" came from Chatig's mouth. He emphasized the role of legislation and believed that it was as important to aid the people as it was to put them in fear. In a trial where everyone tries to hide the truth, Chatig's unique talent lay in recognizing the truth.
Here are two more examples:
There was a great merchant in Babylon who died in India. He married his daughter and divided the rest of his property equally between his two sons, leaving 30,000 gold coins for the one who was recognized as the more dutiful of the two sons. The elder son built a grave for his father, and the younger son took part of the inheritance and gave it to his sister. People said that the elder son was more filial to his father and the younger son only loved his sister, so the 30,000 gold yang should be rewarded to the elder son.
Chadig disagreed. He brought the two sons together. To the oldest he said, "Your father is not dead, and is coming home when he is well." The oldest son said, "Thank God, it's just a shame that a grave cost me a lot of money." Chadig then did the same to the younger son, who stated, "Thank God, I return all my property to my father; but the share I gave to my sisters, I hope my father will let them keep it." Chatig ruled, "You need not return anything, and in addition you will be given another 30,000 gold coins, and it is you who will honor your father more."
Another time, a very rich young girl made a promise of marriage to two priests, and soon she became pregnant and gave birth to a boy. The two men fought to marry her, both claiming to be the boy's father. The case was brought to Chadig, who called the two priests. First he asked one, "What are you going to teach the child?" The man replied, "I will teach him the eight types of rhetoric, astrology, demon possession, what is proper and what is accidental ......" The other priest said, "I will endeavor to make him a righteous man. " Chadig said, "Whether you are the child's father or not, you may marry his mother."
Chadig tried these cases with fairness and integrity and was impeccable. People appreciated his singular genius and brilliant insight. Afterward, everyone believed whatever Chartiger deemed credible.
Fifteen hundred years ago, there was a great deal of debate in Babylon, and the country was divided into two factions over the matter: one group advocated stepping into the Temple of the Sun with the left foot first, and the other advocated stepping through the temple doors with the right foot first. Everyone waited for the Festival of the Holy Fire to see which faction the Chatig was in favor of. By then, all eyes were fixed on Chandigarh's feet and the whole city was in an uproar, feeling unpredictable. No one could have predicted that Chandigarh would jump into the temple gate with both feet together and then give a speech proving that the Lord of heaven and earth treats human beings equally and does not favor either the left or the right foot.
Chadig's exceptional talent made an unforgettable impression on Queen Ashtadan. Her love grew in her innocent heart, and she felt only the greatest pleasure in meeting and talking with a man who was relied upon for her husband and country. Soon the love affair grew.
Ashdadan's poise was far superior to that of Saimir, who hated the one-eyed man, and to that of A?ora, who wanted to cut off her husband's nose. The intimacy of Ashtadan, the tender words spoken with a red face, the eyes that were intent on looking away from Chhadigarh but could never leave him, caused an inexplicable surge of passion in Chhadigarh's heart. He resisted with all his might, and appealed to philosophy, which had always been able to help him; he was enlightened by reason, but could not relieve the boredom of his heart. Duty, gratitude, the sin of offending the Father, all became in Chaldeeg's eyes the divine way of wrath. He struggled and fought and won, and both he and the queen felt their joy. It was as if they were saying to each other, "We love each other and Beth love each other, and there is a passion in our hearts that thinks sin."
In reality, lust has its own set of markers that people don't recognize. The incipient feelings that are barely suppressed are very visible, unlike fulfilled love that will hide. The king could not look at it without being troubled. What he saw, he believed all; what he did not see, he supplemented with imagination. He took particular notice that the queen's slippers were blue, and so were Chardigha's; that the queen's ribbon was yellow, and so was Chardigha's penny-hat. To a thoughtful king, these were striking marks. He already had a cloud of suspicion in his mind, and suspicion naturally became fact.
King Mobutu, calculating his revenge, decided to poison the queen and hang Chandigarh at dawn on the following day.
This secret was just heard by a dumb but not deaf dwarf in the palace. The little mute man was shocked and anxious. He had a soft spot for the queen and Chardighar, so what could he do to inform the others? He did not know how to write, but could only draw pictures, and spent most of the night drawing pictures of the king's execution of the two men, and gave them to the queen and conveyed them to Chardighar.
Chadig awoke from his dream, mounted a dromedary camel, and fled the city. He walked over a hillock, looked back to view the queen's palace, and fainted. When he awoke he just wept bitterly, and said with great emotion, "What is life all about? Virtue, ah virtue! What use are you to me? The good I have done is all mischief to me; the glory and riches I have enjoyed have only caused me to sink deeper into the sea of misery; if I had been as vicious as others, I would have been as happy as they." This grief, like a heavy leaden weight upon his heart, seemed to hang before his eyes as a curtain of misery, and, pale as he was, he continued on his way towards Egypt.
Chadig proceeded in the direction of the stars, and he admired these gigantic balls of light, though to our naked eye they seem but faint millimeters of light. In fact, our planet is only a tiny dot in the universe, but our greed sees it as vast and noble. The Chaddig thinks of the reality of the human condition as a number of insects and ants huddled together on a small ball of clay, eating each other. This true picture made him realize the emptiness of his own life and the existence of Babylon. In this way, it was as if his suffering was written off.
As he entered the first village in Egypt, he suddenly saw a woman crying for help near the main road, and Chadig saw that the woman was clinging to the man's knee, and that the man was beating and cursing her. When he saw the man's ferocity and heard the woman's repeated pleas for mercy, he realized that one of them was burning with jealousy, and the other one was having a different kind of love. So he used the Egyptian language and asked the man, "She is a woman, and she is so good-looking; if you have any humanity, you must love and cherish her."
The mad man replied, "Ah, so you like her too, then I will settle accounts with you." With that, he picked up his javelin and jabbed it straight at him, really wanting to poke Chardigrade in one go.
Chadig was calm and dodged the madman's attack without any trouble. He grabbed the javelin and snapped it in two. The Egyptian drew his sword, which Chadig met, and the two men fought to the death. The woman sat on the lawn, fixing her hair in a bun, and watched them fight. The Egyptian was strong, but Chadig was more dexterous, and he missed a step and seized the Egyptian's weapon. The Egyptian became more and more furious, and lunged at Chatig; Chatig tendency to hold the body of the other, tumbled to the ground, holding the sword pointed at his chest, asking him to beg for mercy. The Egyptian, enraged, took out his dagger and stabbed Chandigarh. In his anger, Chandig poked his sword into the Egyptian's chest, and the Egyptian screamed, struggled for a moment, and died.
Chadig thought he had avenged the woman's death by letting her escape from the man. But the woman said, "You killed my lover, and I can't wait to tear out your heart."
Chadig asked, "Ma'am, the lover you found was so odd that he beat you desperately; I killed him because you asked me for help, and he was going to hurt me for my life. ......"
The woman yelled and shouted: "I would have been happy if he could have hit me again. That was what I deserved, I was the one who provoked his jealousy."
Chadig heard this, and felt that he had never been so amazed and so angry in his life, and he said, "Madam, though you are good-looking, you are so absurd that even I would beat you, not to mention that man."
Saying this, he straddled the camel and headed for the village.
On entering the village, Chardigarh was surrounded by villagers who accused him of being a murderer. Although questioned and verified, Chadig was legally punished as a slave and put on display in the square with a price tag. As a result, he was bought by an Arab merchant, Sedok, who considered him a friend.
At that time, the Arabian custom of martyrdom was prevalent. When a woman from Sedok's tribe lost her husband, the young widow, Amona, a devout believer, announced that she would throw herself into the fire at a certain time on a certain day, amidst the sound of drums and trumpets.
Chadig explains to Sedok that this cruel custom is incompatible with the good of mankind, and that the young widows, who can still bear children for the nation, or at least raise the original children, should not be allowed to throw themselves into the fire.
Sedok said, "The custom is a thousand years old, and who can change an old rule that has been admired through time?"
Chadig replied, "To speak of antiquity, reason is older."
So he bade the men lead him to the widow's house, and first appreciated her beauty, and won her heart; then told her of the pity of setting fire to this charming charm, and then honored her for her chastity and courage.
The lady said, "I am a woman of faith, and if I do not martyr my husband I shall be disgraced and disgraced."
Chadig learned that the faithful woman had been martyred only for the sake of a false name. He immediately sought an audience with the tribal chief and persuaded him to lay down a new rule: any widow who asked for martyrdom would first have to have a private talk with a young man. After that, there was not a single woman in Arabia who threw herself into the fire, and the widows called him the benefactor of Arabia.
Sedok felt that Chatig was full of wisdom, but the priests decided to punish him. For it was customary for the priests to keep all the jewelry that was left behind when they sent young widows to be martyred. And now that Chadig had gotten the idea, the widows refused to be martyred. Therefore, the priests, in their extreme grief and indignation, judged that Chardighar should be burned with fire. Sedok, alarmed and anxious, sent everywhere for rescue, but in vain.
At that time, the young widow Amona found it interesting to be alive, and, grateful to Chadig, she made up her mind to try to rescue him that night.
She put on perfume and dressed up in the most flamboyant way, and ran to the high priest and asked for an intimate talk. She said to the high priest, "I am afraid I have committed a terrible sin by not burying my dear husband in the fire. Truly, what have I got that is worth preserving? Nothing but a pile of flesh that will rot sooner or later." She lifted the long sleeves of her silk shirt, revealing her snow-white, dazzling arms. She said, "You see, what is there to keep?" The High Priest felt in his heart that there was much to keep. He showed it with his eyes, and confirmed it with his mouth, saying that he had never seen such beautiful arms in his life.
The widow sighed, "Perhaps the arm is not as ugly as the other parts, but you cannot but admit that my breasts are indeed not worthy of love." So she revealed her ample bosom, and her large, pulsatingly beautiful eyes shot out gentle flames, and bright scarlet and pure milky white mingled in her face. As the old priest watched this, he felt a return to his old age and infatuation, as if he were only twenty years old.
Amona, seeing that he was on fire, took the opportunity to plead on behalf of Chadig.
The old priest said, "Alas, fair lady, even if I were to grant it it would be of no avail, the pardon would have to be signed by three other colleagues."
Amona said, "Whatever, you sign it."
The priest said, "I'm more than willing, if you'll make it easy as the price of my accommodation."
Amona said, "It is a token of my appreciation. Please come up to my house when the sun goes down and the bright stars appear in the sky, and I will be sure to be waiting on a pink couch, at your disposal like a slave girl."
Beautiful Amona ran with the signed pardon and begged to see the second priest, who also asked her to pay the price, and Amona obliged. She went to see the third and fourth priests again, signed them next to each other, set an appointment, and then she went to inform the judge. At the appointed time, the young widow invited the judge, and the priests went to their appointments one by one, and they all met their colleague and could not help but be filled with shame.
Chadig was saved. Sedok admires Amona's wisdom and decides to take her as his wife. Chadig took leave of his benefactor and headed toward Syria.
One day, Chadig passed through a meadow, only to see many women searching for something on the ground, and when they inquired, they realized that they were catching four-legged snakes. Because his master, Lord Oqu, was sick, and the doctor said that the only way to cure him was to eat a four-legged snake fried in rose-scented water. Lord Au Quo offered a reward; whoever could find a four-legged snake would be his wife. For this reason, the women were all scrambling in their search.
One woman was the exception. She wore a face-net on her head and lay on the grass for a long time, holding a small stick in her hand and drawing on the fine sand. Out of curiosity, Chardigha approached to get a better look. He could not help but shiver, only to see written on the sand, "Chardig" and other words, Chardig surprised that the world is actually such a strange thing, just asked, that Mrs. heard the sound, hastily raised the face of the net, look at the Chardig, both touched, and surprised, and happy to cry out, all sorts of feelings a moment surged to the heart. She could not support herself, and fell into the arms of Chadig. As it turned out, she was the Queen of Babylon - Ashtadan.
Ashtadan told Chadig how she had escaped from the king's poisonous plan. She said to Chadig, "Thou knowest that the king was greatly displeased to see that thou art the loveliest man in the world; and for this cause he determined one night to hang thee and poison me. After you had fled, I hid myself in the temple of Orosmart. Early the next morning the physician entered my bedchamber with a libation of four poisons and opium synthesized, and pounced on it. Gatau, in order to deceive the king, pretended to denounce us, saying that you had taken the road to India and that I had fled to Memphis. The king immediately sent after me.
"The officers who apprehended me did not recognize me. They could only pursue me on the basis of a verbal description of my appearance. When they reached the Egyptian border, they saw a woman of similar stature to me, perhaps even more graceful, weeping on the road. They concluded that she was the queen of Babylon and brought her to Mobutu. When Mobdad found out that they had mistaken her, he was furious; but after a while, when he had looked at the woman closely, he thought she was very beautiful, and he was calmed down. The woman's name was Mesuph.
"Afterward, I heard that she had gained the favor of Mobuta, and had made him so obedient that she became his wife. From that time on, she revealed her true nature and acted without scruple in her ridiculous thoughts. When the high priest became old and suffered from gout, Mesopotamia forced him to perform a dance. When the high priest refused, she abused him. She also asked the High Priest to make a stuffed snack, and the High Priest explained that he was not a snack master, but it was no use, he had to do it. He lost his office because the pastry was burnt. And Mesopotamia made one of the short men who served her the chief priest, and sent one of her attendants to be the privy councillor. Thus and thus she ruled Babylon. The king once spoiled the beauty of sex, and love drowned his virtue. The tyranny of Mesopotamia frightened Mobdah as if he were insane. The king's madness became the signal for a national rebellion. The people whirled their arms, and Babylon was transformed into a miserable battlefield ......
"I was pulled out from under the idol, and made the leader of a party. Gatau rushed to Memphis to find you back in Babylon. When the lords of Ilgani heard these tidings, he came with an army to Galti to form a third party. He attacked the king, who met him with the absurd Egyptian woman and died under a random fire. Misufo fell into the hands of the enemy, and I had the misfortune to be taken captive by the party of Ilgani......."
The suffering and deep affection of the two men, whose hearts had long been suppressed, naturally caused much feeling in noble and ardent hearts. Ashtadan and Chardighar told these feelings and returned to the palace and fortress of Og Qu.
Chadig came to the door, and said to Aoqo, "May the heavens bless you and keep you in peace all the days of your life! I am a physician, and have come especially with a four-legged snake fried in rose perfume. I do not wish to marry you, but only ask you to release a young slave girl from Babylon, who has been in the house but a few days. If I am unable to cure you, I would rather serve as a slave in the House in her stead."
The offer was accepted. Ashtadan returned to Babylon, where she became as popular as the beautiful, fallen concubine, and was reinstated as queen.
The lords of Ilgani fell in a certain battle. The people, in their victory, sought to find a king to marry Asdadan. It was sworn that a man of wisdom and valor must be set up. A large schoolyard was set up at a distance of 20 miles from the city, surrounded by stands, and it was proposed that the king should be chosen by contests in martial arts, riddles, and other contests, and that the one who could overwhelm the crowd should be crowned king.
With the secret assistance of Ashtadan, Chandigarh was the last to compete in the tournament, picking off four knights in a row, and wrestling his opponent down to his weapons, winning the tournament in one fell swoop.
A few days later, Chadig arrived to answer the riddle.
The high priest began with a question: What is the longest and the shortest thing in the world, the fastest and the slowest, the most divisible and the most vast, the least valued and the most admired; without which nothing can be done; which brings to naught all that is small, and gives life to all that is great?
Some say it is luck, some say it is the earth, some say it is light. Chatig thinks it is time. He said, "There is nothing longer than time, for it is endless; and there is nothing shorter than time, for all our plans are too late to accomplish them; time is slowest for those who are waiting; it is fastest for those who are making merry; at the time, no one pays any attention to it, and afterward, no one expresses any regret; nothing can be done without it; and that which is not worthy of remembrance for the generations to come, it is all but forgettable; Great ones, it all immortalizes them."
The entire room agreed that Chatig's explanation was correct.
The second riddle was: what is it that you don't know how to be thankful when you get it, you don't know how to enjoy it when you have it, you are absent-minded when you give it, and you don't realize when you lose it?
Each man gave various answers, and only Chadig guessed that it was life. The rest of the riddles were answered by the Chadig with equal ease.
The assembly unanimously voted to make Chardigarh king, and Ashtadan was overjoyed beyond words. The wicked were punished and the good were rewarded. From then on, the world was peaceful, prosperous, and flourishing, and the people were grateful to Chhadigarh for his wise administration.