The Real Husband

As Vikram carried Betal, Betal began another story. Inder and his wife Indu were very religious. Once Indu's brother Sunder visited them. All three went to goddess Durga's temple. First Sunder entered the temple. On seeing the idol of Durga he was so overcome by devotion that he decided to sacrifice himself. He cut his head off in front of the idol. Then Inder entered the temple and saw his brother-in-law's dead body. He was also gripped by a sense of self-sacrifice and cut his head off. Finally, Indu entered the temple and saw the two dead bodies. She became vary sad . She wept aloud and prayed to Durga to give her the same husband and brother in her next life.

As Indu prepared to give up her life, Durga appeared and said that she was pleased with their devotion and would bring the two men back to life. Then she asked Indu to join the two heads with the respective bodies . When Durga put life into the bodies, Indu realised that she had mixed up the heads. Now , Inder's body had Sunder's head, and Sunder's body had Inder's head. Betal asked Vikram, "Who was Indu's real husband?" Vikram replied, "The head is the most important part of the body. A person has all his thoughts and memories in his head. The man with Inder's head had all the memories of Indu as a wife. So he was her real husband."

Betal was very happy to hear Vikram's answer but he flew away saying that Vikram had broken his promise by speaking.