Chapter 5 – Buddha’s Gift
As expected, Prince Simian was nothing but a gigantic headache on S’Nim. Not only did he not listen to S’Nim, Prince Simian’s erratic behavior resulted in many human getting hurt. None so serious enough to invoke a retribution from anyone, but each act was worse than the last, S’Nim was lost without any means to deal with the situation. Sometimes, Prince Simian would fly out under guise of finding suitable lodging for the night, and would return three days later, huffing and puffing, all out of breadth, only to see hundreds of humans chasing after him with sharp objects. Things they were shouting at the Prince Simian, were just too horrible for S’Nim to hear, in the end, they all end up running and hiding somewhere until it was safe to continue. Three weeks of repeated chase put S’Nim over the top. “This is it! I can’t go on like this!” declared S’Nim. But, S’Nim knew there was nothing for him to do. Kicking him out of the group would be playing into Simian’s trap. That is why Prince Simian was getting worse, and expected to be dropped like third period history class. Out of desperation, S’Nim starts transmitting SOS to captain Buddha, I mean, praying his chants.
After a while, whole world disappears and S’Nim is sitting on something resembling a cloud. It was white and airy, but they drifted left and right, according to some unknown wind, just like a boat on a windy lake. When S’Nim opened his eyes, a large smiling face of Buddha floated in front of S’Nim. S’Nim immediately bows his head, almost touching the white cloud which was the ground. Softly, out of Buddha’s mouth came a question. “What is troubling you?” For a moment, S’Nim didn’t understand the question, since he wasn’t sure who the giant face belonged to. But, hearing the voice ended his doubt. “Mercy, Buddha, it is the monkey that is troubling me. I am afraid I cannot be any service to you if my assistant harms any living object.” Answered S’Nim. “It’s that bad?” asked Buddha. S’Nim thought for a second if he should answer, but kept his mouth shut. “Then, I will give you a gold headband. This was made specially, so that no magic can release the band. And, your prayer will wither tighten or loosen the headband.” Said the Buddha. S’Nim gave a moment’s thought, and asked “But, I have no way to put on the monkey.” Smiling still, the Buddha had answers for any questions. “Just hide it from the Prince. He will seek it out and his curiosity will put it on.” And with that, the image of smiling Buddha disappeared. In his place was the shining golden headband, made from thick gold wire, it had very attractive curl at each end. S’Nim picked it up carefully from the ground. And it went into S’Nim’s backpack.
After a long, long time of absence, the Prince Simian flew back and was laughing. “Ha-ha-ha, S’Nim, you won’t believe what I did today.” S’Nim ignored. Prince Simian changed his face and screamed “I said, I did something funny today!” But, S’Nim still ignored. Sensing something different, Prince Simian began probing things around his environment. He was getting cautious. All of sudden, he notices something shiny peeking out of S’Nim’s backpack. “What is that?” asked Prince Simian. Playing his game, S’Nim, immediately picks up his backpack and hides the shiny thing from being shown. “It’s none of your business.” Said S’nim. “Ah-so, there is something in there! Let me see it!” demanded Prince Simian. Clutching to his backpack, S’Nim refused. “It has nothing to do with you!” Prince Simian was not exploding with curiosity. He cannot resist finding out what S’Nim was hiding. It was shiny and golden. GOLD! Yes, S’Nim was hiding GOLD from him. This thought put Prince over the top. Immediately, Prince Simian lunged forward and snatched the backpack out of S’Nim’s hand. “Give me my bag!” screamed S’Nim. But, the monkey’s hand was already in the bag, fishing for the object. Smiling, Prince Simian slowly took out the headband. “My, my, what have we here? A gold headband? Why , my dear monk, would you burden yourself with such an obscene object?” said Prince Simian. Studying carefully, the monkey was being mesmerized by its beauty. It was a sheer brilliance that S’Nim said what he said. “What ever you do, do not put it on your head.” And that was all it took to have the monkey put it on. Slowly, Prince Simian placed the headband on his head. Adjusting a little, since it was a perfect fit, Prince was smiling ear to ear.
After a while, Prince Simian was getting tired of this headband thing. He tried to take it off. But it was not coming off. He tried both hands; it still won’t come off. Panicking, Prince Simian start to twist his headband, but it won’t budge. Seeing this futile attempt, S’Nim started his prayer chant. “Namu ami ta bul. Guan saum bo sal.” A screeching sound of Prince Simian’s scream of pain pierced S’Nim’s ears. “Awwww, waaaaa. It’s squeezing my head!” Prince Simian was on the floor, rolling and kicking. After a few minutes, S’Nim began his release prayer chant. “Namu ami ta bul. Guan saum bo sal.” Magically, the headband stopped its painful squeeze. Coming to his senses, Prince Simian realized for the first time, that S’Nim was controlling its behavior. A fire went off in his heart. Prince Simian took out the beam from his ear and lunged toward S’Nim. The beam stick became a large weapon and was flying directly at S’Nim’s heart. S’Nim closed his eyes and started his chant again. “Namu Ami Tabul Guan Sam Bo Sal.” In mid flight, Prince Simian started to scream, turning over his body and ultimately falling on the ground. Both of his paws are on his headband, trying desperately to pull the band our of his head. The futile attempt was nothing more than his way of dealing with events; violence. It never occurred to him that S’Nim ’s mercy might stop this pain! It was at this moment that S’Nim opened his mouth. “Are you willing to behave?” “Yes, yes, yes, just stop this crush.” Screamed Prince Simian. Smiling, S’Nim began his prayer chant, and the effect was immediate. Getting up and dusting himself off, Prince Simian realized that, like his 500 years of incarceration, this was a big, fat, elephant eared, ear-to-ear-grinned Buddha’s ploy. With his face to the ground, Prince Simian kept quite. This is how he accepted unpleasant things; kept quiet about it. S’Nim consoled the batted down Prince. “Simian, Buddha’s mercy will release you from that band on your head. All you have to do is keep your promise and assist me in bringing back few tablets.” Hearing this did not have any effect on the monkey. But, what he was thinking was that if there is no S’Nim, there is no one to recite that stupid chant! He was calculating how he can free himself from this bondage. The thought was very sinister. And, Buddha was seeing right through him. “Let’s go.” Said S’Nim. With that, the party continued toward setting sun on the horizon.
