Free The Prince and the Zombie by Tenzin Wangmo

Sick King

    O NCE UPON A TIME in a distant country there was a king who continually suffered from terrible, barely tolerable headaches. No doctor or shaman in his country had succeeded in curing him. The king had tried all means available to him to find a cure, but to no avail.
    In despair, the king resorted to having his men put up thousands of little notices in all of his towns and villages—on tree trunks, in the marketplaces, and in places that merchant caravans passed by. The words on these notices were always the same: “The person who succeeds in curing the king’s headaches will receive half of his kingdom as a reward.”
    Reading this notice, scores of people coming from different countries thronged the court hoping to be presented to the king so they could cure him. Among these people were renowned doctors and healers, but also magicians and a great number of charlatans. Everyone wanted to try his hand.
    Weeks and months passed without any improvement in the king’s condition. On the contrary, the headaches got worse and worse, and the king thought he would soon die.
    One day the Darpo brothers, who had traveled through many a country, also heard of the sick king’s offer. And this is what happened to them as they were passing through a dense forest: Darpo Born-in-Summer heard a voice that seemed to be coming from the top of a tree. Fascinated, the two brothers stopped and looked closely to see just where this strange voice was coming from. Darpo Born-in-Summer discovered to his great surprise that he was able to understand everything being said by a large crow perched on the top of the tree:
    â€œIt is a great pity that nobody understands me, because I know the answer to the enigma of the king’s illness. In his head, a poisonous spider is hidden. There is an effective method for getting it to come out. The king has to lay one of his ears down on a piece of cloth that is green like a lawn. Then somebody has to imitate the sound of thunder by turning a stone grinding wheel very close to his other ear. To imitate lightning, all that is necessary is to light an incense stick and move it back and forth near one of his ears. Next a wet branch has to be shaken near one of his ears to imitate a heavy rain. As a result of these tricks, the spider will think that a powerful summer storm is in progress, and all by herself she will crawl out of the king’s head. But because human beings don’t understand the language of crows, I can’t help them. What a shame! What a shame!”
    And the crow flew off into the distance, leaving behind a perplexed Darpo Born-in-Summer, who had heard and understood everything.
    Excitedly he told his brother everything. His brother looked at him somewhat incredulously. Yes, he thought, it was quite possible that living through a long period in darkness at the bottom of a well could have produced a transformation in Darpo Born-in-Summer’s perception, even to the point where he now possessed special powers. Without delay, the brothers made their appearance before the king, pretending to be powerful shamans from a very remote corner of Tibet. In spite of his many disappointments—because to this day no method had succeeded in helping him—the king was impressed by the persuasive words, the charm, and the singing of the two Darpo brothers, and his hope was revived. Thus he commanded that everything be brought and set up very exactly in accordance with the strange instructions of the two brothers, who themselves were following to the letter the indications of the big crow. And so indeed it happened that the spider came out of the king’s head, and in no time at all his headaches disappeared. After three days the king, once again completely himself and infinitely grateful, kept his word and gave half his kingdom to the two Darpo brothers as a reward. And that is not all! The king had two very beautiful daughters whom he gave to the Darpo