This is one of the stories that Vetala, the goblin, narrated to King Trivikramasena.
Once, there was a king called Chandasimha. A man called Sattvasila came to work for the king.
Once, the king went to hunt and Sattvasila accompanied him.
The king was very tired and there was no food to be found anywhere. Sattvasila had two ‘amalaka’ fruits tied in his garment. When Sattvasila saw the tired king, he gave the king the two fruits.
The king ate the two fruits and after this, Sattvasila led the king away from the forest back to his kingdom.
From that day, the king was very happy with Sattvasila and the king gave enormous riches to Sattvasila.
After that, Sattvasila became a bodyguard of the king.
Once, Chandasimha entrusted an important task to Sattvasila. The king sent Sattvasila to Lanka. The king wanted Sattvasila to talk to the king of Lanka and ask for the Lanka King’s daughter in marriage. Along with Sattvasila went a group of people from Chandasimha’s kingdom.
They all decided to go to Lanka by sea.
However Sattvasila’s adventures had started.
When the ship was halfway to Lanka, a huge banner suddenly emerged from the sea. The banner was made of gold and waved above the sea in various colours. Suddenly a gust of wind blew and huge clouds emerged in the skies and it began to rain.
The winds pushed the ship towards the banner and before anyone could move, the banner along with the ship sank into the sea.
Adapted from the Katha Sarith Sagara
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