Musa’s Cotton
(Musus Ti Kapas)
In the heart of
Srinagar lived a lawyer named Mustafa, known to all as Musa Khan. His wit was
as sharp as a winter wind, and he could untangle any legal knot.
One day, a broken shopkeeper came up
to him. “I borrowed money,” he wept. “The interest has swallowed me whole. The
moneylender will take my house, and my family will be on the street.” Moved by
the man’s despair, Musa Khan devised a plan.
In court, the judge asked the
shopkeeper for his defense. The man gave a little jerk and said, “Kapas.”
(Cotton).
“What did you say?”
“Ka-p-as.”
The judge frowned. Musa Khan stepped
forward. “My Lord, this poor man… Kapas… is innocent. Kapas!
He once traded in cotton. Kapas! He stored bales worth a
fortune… Kapas! … until fire burned it all to ashes. Kapas!
The shock stole his wits. Now, only that word remains.”
Convinced the defendant was mad, the
judge dismissed the case. The shopkeeper was saved.
Outside, Musa Khan smiled. “A clever
performance! Now, for my fee.”
The shopkeeper looked at him blankly.
“Kapas.”
“Come now, no more games. My fee.”
“Ka-p-as.”
“You rogue, pay me!”
“Kapas! Kapas! Kapas!”
The brilliant lawyer stood stunned. He
had been outwitted by his own clever plot. The man he saved had learned his
lesson too well. In a rage, Musa Khan shouted to the bystanders, “Look! Now he
says ‘Kapas’ even to me!”
And so, the Kashmiri saying was born: “Musus ti Kapas”—a warning that a clever trick can, like a boomerang, return to hit its sender.
