Mind Your Business - Part 26

Everyone watched intently as the demon unfolded his past. There was sorrow mixed with pain in his voice. "The forest was vast and thick. We spent nights and days, finding that golden deer.  We didn't find one. After days and nights of hunting for that deer, we were losing out on food. We started to feed ourselves on wild berries and raw meat.", he said. remembering days of hardship.

"We were collecting water for the night at the riverside one day. There, we found the golden deer. It was wandering other side of riverbank. We had never seen such spectacular being. The deer shined like the Sun. It had strong antler and body. We got ready to attack sneakingly.", he said and paused. 

The silence was haunting. "We used our best archers to get it. But it realized our attack as soon as the first arrow was released. It ran and we chased. The chasing went on for weeks. Then our luck struck, we injured the deer. As we cut it's head mercilessly, it shrieked. It's cry was loud and could be heard throughout the forest. Since the time I started with this mission, I didn't feel anything right. I should have followed my insight rather my emotions.", he said with a sigh.

"As we continued to return back home,  a voice stopped us. "Where are you going?", the voice asked. We turned back to see who it was. A furious sage stood firm. His eyes were bloodshot. The tremors could be felt in form of anger in his voice. "Where are you going after killing my daughter?", he asked again. We looked confused. "After years of devotions and tapas, Lord Rudra gave me boon in form of daughter. A daughter who was half deer and half human. But you took it away.", he said. We were astonished. We were unaware that gold deer was actually a human.. a daughter. We felt immense remorse taking away a child.", he said with guilt.

"The sage walked towards his daughter's body. He knelt down and touched it gently. Then he looked up at us. "I, Maharishi Sadhanand curse you for your sin. You will lose your kingdom and pride. You will never get what you want. You will turn into demons when the sun rays touches the earth next day.", he cursed. We had done unspeakable sin. We took away the child from a parent to satisfy our love for child.", he said 

"We bent down and begged him to revoke the curse. We accepted our mistake. "As per our royal priest, Purohit's order, we were asked to sacrifice the golden deer. We were not aware that she was your daughter. Please forgive us. Please revoke the curse on us.", we begged. "Purohit! He is your royal priest! That scoundrel used you to destroy me.", he said surprised. We were astonished. We didn't know that we were used as bait to kill  Maharishi's daughter. What was Purohit motive behind all this bothered us.", he said 

(To be continued)