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The Cannibal
"I hope you have made investigations", said Sodas fixing his eyes on the ground.
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"We have made all the necessary investigations. It is only after making those investigations that we have come to you". The Chief Minister said fixing his probing eyes on Sodas. There was silence everywhere, Sodas was silent.
"I think you know who the offender is and for whom he has been abducting children thus...."
"Yes!" said Sodas suggesting that he knew those details. "What is done cannot be undone."
"But it is absolutely necessary that a thorough transformation should take place in you. You are the king of the vast kingdom of Ayodhya and you are like the father of the people of Ayodhya. The duty of a father is to take care of his children; not to eat them. Is it proper for a protector to become destroyer?"
"I know my duty very well. Nobody need teach me my duties...." Sodas said in a voice tinctured with anger.
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"Yes, dear king. That is true. Who are we to teach you anything? But we have placed before you our suggestion which we thought proper. Giving a suggestion is our duty. That is why we have met you. No king can continue to rule over a kingdom against the wishes of the people".
"Then, what are you suggesting ?"
"We appeal to you to exercise a restraint on your love of taste and to stop eating the flesh of children".
"In this matter I will do, whatever I like".
"What does it mean, Oh king? What do you mean by saying that you would do what you like?"
"You need not know it."
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