THE FORTUNE-TELLER OF BAGAN

The king's astrologer at Bagan read the horoscope of his new-born son, and the stars foretold that the son in later years would cut of his father's tongue, so the astrologer put the child in a pot and floated it down the Ayarwaddy river( one of the main blood stream river of Myanmar), thinking that the pot with the child would be carried out to sea and lost however, when the pot reached lower Burma an old woman who was bathing in the river saw the pot floating by and swam to it out of curiosity. Finding the child inside, she brought him up as her own son. When the child grew up he went along with some merchants to a foreign city which had a university. He studied astrology at the university and, at the age of sixteen, he left it. He returned to his own village and, finding to his sorrow that, his adoptive mother was dead, he went to Bagan. He set up practice as a fortune-teller, and became so famous that he was given the name of “Master Correct” by the people. Even the king’s astrologer (who, as it will be remembered, was in reality his father) became jealous of the newcomer's reputation.

One day the king of Bagan wanted to build a monastery, and asked his astrologer to choose an auspicious site. When the site had been chosen the king went in state to the place to lay the foundation stone. The king requested the royal astrologer to indicate the place where the foundation stone should be laid. The astrologer, after consulting his books, made the following prediction: although it was mid-summer, at noon rain clouds would appear, and from behind the rain clouds an eagle would swoop down towards the ground and let fall a fish which, was being held in his beak. “This is where the fish will come to rest,” said the royal astrologer, indicating the place, “and so this is the place for the foundation stone.” Master Correct was among the sightseers who had some to watch the laying of the foundation stone and, pointing to another place about a yard away, he said, “No, sire astrologer, this is the place where the fish will come to rest and so this is the place for the foundation stone.” The royal astrologer was very angry, and called Master Correct an interfering young upstart. “Let us bet,” challenged Master Correct boldly. “The one whose prediction, proves correct, shall cut off the other's tongue.” The royal astrologer accepted the bet. It was now nearing noon, and all waited in silence. Exactly at noon rain clouds suddenly appeared, and from behind them swooped down an eagle holding a fish in his, beak. The bird then, dropped the fish, and it fell at the place previously indicated by the royal astrologer.

The, crowd gave a cheer for the royal astrologer. But the fish was not yet dead, and it wriggled and jumped until it came to rest at the place previously indicated by Master Correct. Now the crowd applauded Master Correct, and encouraged him to cut of his rival's tongue. Master Correct hesitated, but the royal astrologer shouted in his pride, “Cut off my tongue quickly and be done with it.” Even then, Master Correct cut off merely the tip of the astrologer's tongue. Only when the tip of his tongue had been cut off did the royal astrologer remember his reading of his son's horoscope years ago. So he made discreet inquiries and discovered that Master Correct was his own son. Master Correct was full of remorse when he realized that he had cut off his own father's tongue, but the father soothed him, and publicly acknowledged him as a greater astrologer than himself.

There was a third famous astrologer at Bagan at the time, and he was a monk. He became very jealous of Master Correct, and plotted his downfall. One, day he went to the young astrologer and asked him to read his horoscope. “At sunrise on the seventh day from now,” Master Correct predicted, “a thunderbolt will fall on your head.”
“Mark your words, young astrologer!” said the monk and went away. The monk thought out a plan to save his “own life and shame the Astrologer at the same time. On the seventh day before sunrise, the monk put a huge lump of clay on his head and stood neck-deep in the river. He watched the sky carefully, and when he saw a gash of lightning, he dived into the water. The thunderbolt hit the lump of clay and broke it to seven pieces, but the mock was unharmed. He then went to Master Correct, and said with a sneer, “Well, my young master, the sun has risen, and my head is still intact. Where is your thunderbolt?” Master Correct did not suspect the monk of any falsehood, and really believed that his prediction had been proved wrong. He gathered all his notes and books and burnt them, saying that he had lost his faith in astrology. A servant ran with the news to Master Correct's father, who came in haste and said, “Do not burn the books, my son, but give them to me.”

“It is too late, father,” replied Master Correct, “I have burnt them”.
“Give me the ashes then” said the father. But when Master Correct went and looked he found that the ashes had been scratched away by a cock. That is why the leg of a cock can predict the fixture.
Master Correct brooded over the failure of his prediction so much that he became mentally deranged. He wandered about the city of Pagan, muttering predictions to himself. Master Correct was such a wonderful astrologer that he could see not only into the future, but also into the ground; so, he saw all the buried treasure ; but he had such a high conception of his profession that be never dug up the treasure, nor did he tell anyone. However, now that he was insane, he pointed this way and that, saying, “Here is a pot gold, there is a pot of silver.” Many treasure seekers heard about this, and followed Master correct with slate and pencil, meaning to note down the secrete places where the treasures lay. But Master Correct's high conception of his profession was able to assert itself even in his insanity, and he would run away shouting, “Ding dong, ding dong,” whenever he saw people following him.

After some months of insanity, Master Correct became ill. A brief interval of sanity came back to him. “For the sin of cutting off my father's tongue,” he said, “I had become mad, although when I committed it, I did not know that he was my father.” He also predicted that his legs would be broken after his death. Soon afterwards he died when the coffin had been made it was found to be too short, and Master Correct's legs had to be broken before his body could be put into the coffin. So, even after his death Master Correct's prediction was found to be true.

Photo Credit: Google Image
Author: Maung Htin Aung
Steemed by: Henry Aung (Kachin)