The Prince of Kabul

CHAPTER-1
More than a hundred years ago, in a land far far away from here, where the sun sets on the rugged mountains in the chilling cold, where every day seems to end with the dusk and every night seems to be longer than ever. In the middle of the mighty ranges lay an ancient village where a great legend was born.
This sleepy little village awoke to celebrate the birth of their king’s heir. He was the first-born to the king of Kabul; he would be their future ruler and so every one rejoiced on this auspicious occasion. The royal household was busy, very busy indeed as there were sweets & clothes to be distributed, poor to be fed till satiated. Then there was the grand feast to be held too. People for once had something to be happy about for they were most often the sufferers of nature’s fury. But these people, the pashtuns of Afghanistan, were the kind of people who could move mountains out of their determination.
In the grand feast the king called upon for the muezzin to name the prince. The muezzin decided upon the letter ‘S’ and so the young prince was named Mohammed Saeed Khan. The young prince was given a dagger encased in a silver case with ornamental embellishment. It carried the letter ‘S’ embossed on it. The queen was as anyone would have guessed, the happiest person in the world that time. Thus the whole village was joyous but not everyone; there were many enemies of the king who would never miss a chance to attack.
A few years later the king married another lady, Haleema. She was a sharp woman quite different compared to her counter-part. As soon as she joined the royal household, she seized to take control of every little thing. She detested the little prince, who was now nearing the age of three, because he was loved by everyone most of all the king. Later on she had a son, soon followed by another. Both of who unlike Prince Saeed, were harebrained.







CHAPTER-2


As days passed into weeks, weeks into months and months into years, Prince Saeed grew into a brave & handsome young prince. At a remarkably young age he started to horse ride and got himself a stallion with black shiny mane, which he named Ku-Kab. Ku- Kab was Saeed’s best companion with whom he shared his thoughts and adventures.
He mastered the art of sword fighting and took part in the contests held & won many of them, much to the anger and humiliation of his step brothers who stubbornly refused to take least interest in any such activities.
While the prince was getting mature, his looks and qualities grew by the number. He also attracted many marriage proposals, to one of which his mother agreed to be the best. Though the prince’s mind was initially was not on marriage he approved, for he couldn’t say no to his mother.
The celebrations for the wedding were going on around the village. On the day of the wedding, the palace was decked up with various types of flowers. Guests were pouring in from every corner of the kingdom. Cooks prepared a variety of delicacies including plump peaches with walnuts & hazelnuts adored by Prince Saeed.
After the agreement of the bridegroom & bride, the wedding proceeded with the royal couple being blessed by the king & the queens. The dinner was served and then the guest dispersed one after the other, only the royal family was left & finally everyone descended to their respective rooms.
On reaching her room, queen haleema thought of the growing position of Prince Saeed. The envy she had been secretly nurturing was eventually turning into hatred. She visualized in her mind’s eye, Prince Saeed ascending to the throne. His mother getting utmost attention & she herself being ignored, her sons being treated like his slaves. So that night she decided not to let Prince Saeed become the king at any cost…










CHAPTER-3


A year passed after Prince Saeed’s wedding. The king, as he was growing old, nominated Saeed for the kingship much to the discontent of queen haleema. She hatched a plan with her sons to kill Saeed while he was out with ku-kab for his regular rides n the mountainous region. They formulated a plot against him and intended to do this deed next morning when Saeed went out.
But a loop hole appeared in Haleema’s plan when one of her son Prince ayub, told his brother loudly that he would be the one to attack Saeed. The servant bringing them water heard this, while both prince Yaqub and Ayub were unaware of her presence, they both discussed the details. The servant being loyal to Queen Zavarein the mother of Prince Saeed, went straight away to her and told her all she heard. Although the queen was startled she was quick to act. She went up to Saeed and told him to quickly pack some of his things and come to meet her outside the palace gate. Prince Saeed collected his dagger and a few other important articles and went out.
When Prince Saeed arrived at the palace gate he was curious to know why his mother was acting so strange. He asked her several questions but all his questions were answered when she narrated him what all was going on, that there was no time to waste and he should be going away. But the young Prince protested and informed her that he was not a coward to run away like this and would rather like to face them bravely even if costed him his life, but the queen thought differently and told him that he wasn’t running away, but he would be returning as soon as the two other prince would start fighting for the throne. Then, she told him, would be the right time to take them all for a surprise and ascend to the throne.
All said and done Saeed had to abide by his mother’s will, but he was worried about his wife and mother as he could never trust his brothers for anything still he obeyed his mother and he set off to a journey unknown, thus begins the journey of The Prince of Kabul…










CHAPTER-4


He gave his mother a final hug and her mother kissed him on his forehead and wished him good luck for his life. Prince Saeed sat at the back on Ku-kab, the queen gave him whatever jewels and money she had. He left the palace and had a final glance at his mother & the palace. He had no idea where he was heading but he kept on moving. He thought he would go on until he would find a place where he could stay safely. But after he left his region he couldn’t find a suitable place to live and he mostly slept in the cold winds with Ku-Kab beside him.
After a few days the assets he had were going down in number and he had to do something to earn them back. He kept on traveling till he reached Delhi, in India. There Prince Saeed met a man named Shir’ Ali Khan. Shir’ Ali Khan or Shir’ as the prince called him was also a pashtun like him. He was quite the same age as he was, something in his early twenties. A quite but a bright person who did all the calculations orally yet they were accurate. Shir’ was a trader by occupation and had to travel to many places, he asked Saeed if he could help him take his goods to other cities to which Saeed agreed. And so he got a job, like that of a commoner. Since he was a pashtun (pathan) he was employed to carry the treasure from one place to another as a treasurer. Things were going from bad to worse for Prince Saeed. He a prince and an heir had to work to earn a living for himself. The pay he was being given was not enough and the work was tiring, traveling places on horseback loaded with riches was not an easy job still he enjoyed it as there was a risk factor in it. He was at the risk of being attacked by dacoits wanting to do away with the treasure but he was not one of those to back off, it simply wasn’t in his nature to do so.
During his job as a treasurer, he stayed at a small rented house outside the city. Although it was small still it was comfortable for him as he was alone. All this while he ate simple food and led a simple life and came to know what a common man has to go through in life. At times he thought about his palace, his mother and wife and wonder when he’ll be going back and reuniting with them. The thought of going back made him cheerful but he was unsure whether this day would come or not.
It had been a month since he left home but there was no news of his brothers fighting over the throne. He decided to leave next day to collect some information about his kingdom but then he had to make a delivery the same night and by the time he would get back it would be late to start the journey and he’d be tired too. So he considered it more suitable to leave the day after tomorrow. By that time he would wind up everything and get himself prepared to return home, back to his kingdom, even if it meant a war with his brothers. He just couldn’t bear it any longer. But the Prince is unaware of the happenings that await him….



CHAPTER-5


The next morning Prince Saeed woke up to see the dawn of the new day. He smelled the fresh morning breeze quietly whistling over the plain grasses. It’s was a new beginning and he could feel it, it seemed to him as the world had taken a turn and everything is going to be right, he neither cared nor was worried of the consequence he would have to face. He was simply happy for he’ll be returning back.
Before leaving for his next journey which was to Hyderabad he went to Shir’ Ali Khan and informed him that he’ll be leaving tomorrow and this would be the final delivery he would make. Shir’ was more like a friend to Saeed, he asked him whether there was anything he could do for him. Shir’ was the right person saeed thought who could know the whereabouts of his kingdom and so requested him to collect any information about his family while he returned from Hyderabad.
He Quietly left with Ku-Kab, singing along the way to himself in his native language pushto, ‘the homecoming of the warriors’. Ku-kab was heavily laden with merchandise. Prince saeed and Ku-Kab traveled on till they a well, where saeed got down to quench his and his dear companion’s thirst. After giving Ku-Kab some water and quenching his own thirst, they started again towards the city of Nizams. These merchandise mainly consisted of expensive jewels and pearls.
While they were nearing Hyderabad a gang of horse-ridden dacoits seized attack on him. Prince saeed was taken by surprise but he had a quick mind. All those years of sword fighting had taught him enough to handle a situation like this. Though he didn’t have his sword with him, the dagger that was presented to him on his birth was on hand. All the others had long needle swords. He quickly displayed his artillery talents to stun his enemies, and then attacked their leader whose face was covered. While fighting with the leader, he also had to tackle the rest. He managed to injure most of the dacoits but found it difficult to deal with the leader. He seemed to be an expert at this but our prince had the blue blood of the Afghans running through his veins. He started to fight rather more fiercely. And after a series of serious wounds, finally managed to kill the leader and three others. The rest fled away in bewilderment. Even Ku-Kab was hurt but she was sad because her master was suffering with pain. A badly injured Saeed continued his journey onward.








CHAPTER-6

Laden with treasure and bloodstains, Prince Saeed arrived at mustaidpura in Hyderabad. There the people awaiting his arrival were shocked to see his condition and rushed him to a nearby hospital. The hospital in those days was not quite like today, a doctor who was called a hakim treated the patients. He made the medicines and they mostly consisted herbs. Many of his wounds were not so serious but he still had a few deep ones, which could have led to poisoning, but he was healed. A few scars were left where there had been deep wounds.
After his recovery the Nizam, Mir Mehboob Ali Khan, summoned him. He was being awarded for showing such valor and gallantry. The Nizam was so impressed by him that he offered him a senior position in his army. Prince Saeed wanted to take up but he couldn’t do so, his heart lay in his home and he had to return there so he turned down the offer but took the prize money with him.
He first traveled back to Delhi to meet his friend Shir’ and to get the on goings in his kingdom. When he met his Shir’ he was quite bothered to see his friends face sadden. He asked him what the matter was and he was told this. Following saeed’s departure from the kingdom, queen Haleema took the power in her hands, the news of Prince Saeed’s departure made his father, the king go into depression and he died later.
Queen Haleema, who was always doubtful of Queen Zaverien, suspected her in sending away her son and ruining her plans assassinated her secretly, and told the reason to the world that she died of sorrow. Prince Saeed’s wife the Princess who couldn’t put up with all the misdoings going on, committed suicide and so the people for whom he wanted to go back weren’t there now.
He couldn’t imagine that all this could happen and his absence would result in such a tragedy. Now he blamed himself for being responsible for all this. He thought to himself that if he hadn’t left his kingdom things wouldn’t have gone so wrong. It seemed to him that his life, his whole world had come to such a phase where he couldn’t move on. The only people he cared about and loved were no longer with him. All these happenings surrounded him with gloominess. Now there was no point of returning back to his kingdom. His life was scattered like a broken glass and he didn’t know what to do next. He never wanted to see the faces of his family’s murderers ever again in his life.






CHAPTER-7


Shir’ Ali Khan supported saeed all through his hard times and helped him to return to normal conditions. He advised saeed to accept the offer made to him by the Nizams and go to Hyderabad and settle there. At first saeed rejected this advice by saying that he didn’t want to loose the only friend he had but later on he had to accept the fact that he couldn’t live like this in Delhi and it would be the best in everyone’s interest that he goes to Hyderabad and settles there.
So he made his way to Hyderabad where he took up the offer, which he had at first refused. There he was given a mansab in the interiors of sedam. He proved his excellency in weaponry and fighting skills and thus succeeded to high levels. Later on he married woman named Ayesha, and built a huge mansion in the interior of sedam. The area was named kartaal by him and established a village there.
The riches he earned are still buried in the ruins of his house but no one knows where. The house which stands on a hill is now totally wrecked and in all those stones which the house was made of have never been moved except that they fall every year during the rains. Some say that his descendents have perished others say they have migrated elsewhere, but the only descendents of the noble Prince Saeed are still alive and live in the very city of Hyderabad. So here ends the great journey of The Prince of Kabul…………