Sham S. Misri
Long ago there lived three men. One was the tribal chief, the second a carpenter, and the third the chief's cook.
The carpenter was married to a very beautiful woman. The cook liked her very much and wanted her for himself. But she was a very upright woman and would not let him get anywhere near her. The cook thought of killing the carpenter in order to have her.
One day the father of the tribal chief died. The cook thought of killing the carpenter. The cook knew the art of writing religious scriptures. He succeeded in writing and reproducing an old and mysterious style document. He then handed it to the chief, saying, "Master, here is a document I came across some days back. I cannot understand a word of it and have brought it here for you to decode."
The chief was confused by the writing and passed it on to his secretary. After reading it, the secretary said, "This document claims to be from the old chief. In it he says that he has ascended to heaven and is now serving as an official there, but he doesn't have an official house. He asks you, Master, to send him a carpenter -- to direct the construction of such a house."
The chief thought that his father had no place to lay his head in heaven. He sent for the carpenter, showed him the document and ordered him to go to heaven at once.
The carpenter wanted seven days to prepare. After that time a wood burning ceremony in the field behind the carpenter’s house was performed to send him off. Then he would be able to ascend to heaven to build the house. The chief agreed.
When the carpenter left, he made some investigations. He wanted to find out where the chief had got this idea. He found that the evil plot against him was hatched by the cook.
He went home and told his wife that the chief wanted him to go and build a house in heaven. He told her that he must have been tricked by the cook.
The carpenter did not dare refuse the chief, but asked him to hold a Twig Burning Ceremony behind his house before he would go.
The carpenter suggested that there was only one way that could save him. Both of them had to dig a tunnel in the night leading from the field to their bedroom.
The carpenter’s wife developed hatred for the cook. She was willing to do anything to save her husband. So every day when night fell, the two of them dug the tunnel in secret. When completed they sealed the entrance with a slab of stone.
When the day came, the carpenter had to ascend to heaven. Many people came; the cook and the chief had come to send him off. They made a pile of wood in the field and asked the carpenter to sling his tool-kit over his shoulder. They made him stand in the middle, lit the wood and watched the smoke rise, "carrying him up to heaven".
The cook was afraid that as soon as the wood was lit, the carpenter would cry out in terror.
"Come on!" shouted the cook to the crowd. “The carpenter is on his way to heaven to build a house for our old chief!"
The chief came over to have a look. The cook pointed happily to the rising smoke and said, "Master, you see, there goes his horse. The carpenter is on his way to heaven."
The chief was delighted. The moment the wood was lit and the smoke began rising into the sky, the carpenter raised the slab and escaped through the tunnel back to his own bedroom.
He confined himself to his house for a year. His wife did all the outside work herself. Meanwhile, the cook tried many ways of marrying the carpenter's wife, and she avoided him. He failed completely to attain his goal.
While the carpenter was hiding at home, he practiced the calligraphy of writing old scriptures. He prepared a document written in the authentic style and kept it with him. On the first anniversary of his "ascent to heaven" he went and stood on the very spot where he was supposed to have been burnt. The carpenter with same tool-kit on his shoulder called out, "How is everybody? I've just returned back from heaven."
His wife was the first to come out. She pretended to be extremely surprised and hurried over to report the news to the chief.
The chief was very happy when he heard that the carpenter was back. He welcomed him and invited him to stay in his home. He wanted to find out how his father was doing in heaven.
On meeting the chief, the carpenter said, "When I was constructing the house in heaven, the old chief treated me with kindness. The building of house is finished. Only one thing is lacking: a cook. The old chief misses his old cook very much. He wants the cook to go up to heaven and manage things for him. After a period of time he can come back."
This said, he promptly produced the document and showed it to the chief, adding that it was the old chief who had asked him to bring it down.
The chief read the document and was convinced by the whole story. He sent for the cook and asked him to go and work for the old chief in his newly-built house in heaven.
When the cook saw the carpenter standing there after his "ascent to heaven, he just didn't know what to do.”Perhaps he really possess some sort of magic power", he thought to himself. "It was my idea for him to go to heaven, and he actually seems to have done so! Perhaps it really is possible to fly to heaven, and the old chief really does have a new house there!"
He followed the carpenter's example and asked for a Twig Burning Ceremony, which was held in the field behind his house to send him off to heaven. He thought that since the carpenter could come back, he could too. On the fixed day the cook stood in the middle of the wood, and the chief gave the order to light the wood and send him off to heaven.
The wood was burnt and a pile of charred bones was found among the ashes. The cook never came back. The carpenter’s wife cost him his life.
