The King was worried and distressed so he consulted all his...

The King was worried and distressed so he consulted all his ministers and discussed the matter with them. The same official who was always backbiting about the former minister said, ‘I think the prince has been taken away and killed by the grieved former minister.’ On hearing this king ordered to arrest the former local minister. The police found him near the melon field and arrested the former minister and his wife.

They had not eaten the melon by that time and it was still wrapped up in the cloth at the time of their arrest. They were brought in front of the king who noticed blood seeping out from the cloth in which the melon was wrapped. On removing the cloth, the prince’s decapitated head was seen. The king started crying and ordered for them to be put in jail that night, and to behead both of them early in the morning. The former minister and his wife were sent to the royal jail.

In the jail, the former minister asked his wife ‘I cannot understand why we are in so much trouble? What kind of sin have we committed for which we are getting punished?’ His wife told him about the woodcutter’s wife’s story, word by word, and said that she did not believe in this spiritual ‘Nazar’ and about Imam Jafar-e-Sadiq -asws ‘s instructions in her dream.

Upon hearing this, the former minister told his wife that there can be no sin graver than doubting Imam Jafar-e-Sadiq -asws ‘s Divine powers and means of communications to help and assist his followers in desperation. They then decided to repent and ask for forgiveness as Mola -asws ’s miracles are always true and just. Thereafter, they cried all night and asked for absolution and pledged to offer the Niaz if released from the prison without charge.

Allah -azwj accepted their apologies and, early in the morning, the prince came back from hunting and greeted his father, the king. Salawat! On the prince’s return, the king asked him,’ O my beloved son! Where have you been for so long?’ He replied that he decided to stay over night in one of their royal gardens due to his hunting endeavour being unsuccessful. The king asked him to go and take some rest and then called for the former minister and his wife, who were about to be hanged.

The king also asked for the cloth in which he had seen the head of his son. This time when he opened it, he saw a melon there instead. He was surprised and asked the former minister about the whole matter. The minister told him the whole event as it was.