King Dolgoskorb was expelled from his kingdom by his powerful neighbor Bramadatta. Having lost all his property, King Dolgoskorb disguised himself as a mendicant monk, fled with his wife from his fatherland and hid in Benares, the capital of his enemy.
There the queen bore him a son, who was named Long-lived. He grew up as a smart boy, capable of all arts.
One day, Dolgoskorb was recognized by one of his former courtiers, and by order of King Bramadatta, he was captured along with his wife, tied up and led through the city streets. Long lived saw how they were led. He approached them, and the father said to his son:
- You will live long, my son, remember. Enmity is not pacified by enmity, but, on the contrary, not by enmity. Do not look, my son, neither too far nor too close.
King Bramadatta ordered their bodies to be cut into four parts outside the city. The sentence was carried out, but Dolgozhiv got the guards drunk, and when they fell asleep, he burned the bodies of his parents according to the custom of that time, walking around the fire three times with his arms crossed. Then he retired into the forest, where he cried and lamented as much as his heart desired. Then he wiped away his tears, went to the city and entered the service of the king to care for elephants.
Thanks to his beautiful singing, he received the favor of Bramadatta, who made him his servant, the manager of the royal elephant and his soulmate.
One day Dolgozhiv accompanied the Tsar on a hunt. The two of them sat in a comfortable basket on the back of an elephant; Dolgozhiv arranged it so that the entire retinue headed along a different road. The Tsar felt tired, put his head on Dolgozhiv’s lap and fell asleep.
Then the young man thought: “This king Brahmadatta of Benares has caused us so much harm. He took away our herds, and our land, and our treasury, and killed my father and mother. Now is the time to satisfy my thirst for revenge." And he drew his sword from its sheath. But at that moment a thought flashed through his head: “My father, when he was being led to execution, said to me: “My son is long-lived, do not look too far or too close; for enmity is not pacified by enmity, but on the contrary, not by enmity.” It would be wrong to break my father’s words.”
Then he sheathed the sword... Three times he was overcome by the thirst for revenge, and three times he defeated his father’s covenant.
And at this time the king had an ominous dream. Dolgozhiv threatened him with a sword. The young man grabbed the head of King Bramadatta with his left hand, drew his sword with his right and said: “I am Long-lived, the son of King Dolgoskorb of Kozalsky. You caused us a lot of evil, you took away our herds and carts, land, treasury and killed my father and mother. Now is the time to satisfy your thirst for revenge."
Waking up, the king saw a sword raised above him. But the young man hesitated... The king exclaimed:
- Why are you hesitating?
And Dolgozhiv told him about the last words of his father. Then King Brahmadatta fell at the feet of the young man and said:
- Grant me life, my son is long-lived!
- How can I give you life, O king! You, king, must give me life!
- In that case, grant me life, my son is long-lived, and I will grant life to you.
And King Bramadatta and the young man granted each other long life, shook hands with each other and swore never to cause harm to each other. And King Brahmadatta said:
- My son has a long life! What did your father want to tell you before he died, saying: “Look neither too far nor too close, because enmity is not pacified by enmity, but on the contrary, not by enmity”?
And the young man answered:
“My father wanted to say this with these words: do not let enmity last long in your heart, do not disagree too rashly with your friends, do not be guided in your actions by thoughts from the past or future, but be guided by the interests of the present.” The words spoken by the father before his death: “Enmity is not pacified by enmity, but, on the contrary, not by enmity,” mean this: you, king, killed my father and mother; if I wanted to take your life, then those who are devoted to you would take my life. So our enmity would not be pacified by enmity. Now, O king, you have given me life, and I have given you life; It is not through enmity that our enmity has been pacified.
Bramadatta exclaimed:
- Wonderful! Marvelous! How cleverly you reason!
After this, he gave Dolgozhiv his daughter as his wife and returned to him his father’s kingdom.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru