Applying Sage's Letter To The King

Sage was sure that this mysterious name of the book would definitely make the King curious, especially after his reaction to sage mentioning the story of the crocodile. Sage told the King that the book contains countless amount of secrets. He told him to open the book “on the sixth leaf, reads three lines from the left page” and his cut off head will answer any King’s question. The King got amused by this idea and called it “the wonder of wonders” (583.1.3). He let Sage go home “to settle his affairs” and when he came back, “carrying an old book and a kohl jar containing powder”, many people were waiting on him such as princes, viziers, lords and even some servants (590.1.5,8).
Sage gave the book to the King and asked him not to open it until his head is cut off. The King told him that he got another reason to execute sage, in order to see how cut off head can answer questions – he had to kill the man. At that time the King wanted him to die not because of betrayal or threat to be potentially killed by him but out of his curiosity. The King couldn’t wait any longer, so the executioner cut the sage’s head off. Then they put the head “in the middle of the platter, and when he pressed the head on the powder, the bleeding stopped” (590.1.19-20). …show more content…
He made sure that when the King realized that he was being punished, the Sage was already dead and could not be responsible or be punished for that. He also asked him to search for the right page longer, so the poison definitely got in his body and killed him. Sage had to have a revenge on the King for his unexpected and unfair death. His head recited a verse, where he stated that if the King would not punish anybody unfairly and use his power to decide people’s lives, he would be alive and happy now. However, the King just believed unsupported facts and wanted to be simply amused. This desire brought him to this