King Thomas

• Abdul Mateen, Grade 9
• Short Story
• 2016

One day there was a king whose name was Thomas and he had a wife named Eluned. Together god blessed them with a good health, loyal men and a good place to live in. Then one day Eluned suddenly passed away. Heartbroken, Thomas went out on a quest to find his wife because he convinced himself that she was not dead she went somewhere else. So he travelled around the world going from Thailand to China to Russia and so on. In the end he was found unharmed at the entrance of the underworld staring in the face of a mule And it was such a mule that when it breathed out, there was always a tongue of fire coming out of its nose. On top of the mule sat a man who wore a jester's hat and had an open/close sign that read ‘jester’on one side and 'guardian of hell’ on the other. The king asked Hayawan a few questions and Hayawan answered them. So after that when he was allowed the king jumped into the entrance of the underworld. As he slid down the fire coated but ice cold slide of hell, Hayawan jumped in as well just to see what hell was like. When the king finally reached the bottom after one whole year in the slide (due to major slide repairs), he was surprised to see every one walking merrily with smiles on their faces as if this was more like heaven than hell. Suddenly a guard popped out of nowhere and asked the king on what business did he come here for. The king caught off guard stammered out a reply that was barely audible. The guard thought the king was a thief and took him to the devils court. In the devils court he learnt that the people outside were forced to act merrily on the pain of death. He also learnt that Hayawan was the king of the underworld and he ruled with an iron fist. Hayawan asked the king on what business did he come here and the king said to find his wife. Hayawan thought for a moment and said 'my senates tell me you have a good voice so sing us a song if you want to find her. So the king sang a sad song about a man whose wife died and he went to the underworld to find her and he found her. The king finished the song and looked up expectantly at Hayawan, but Hayawan just said she is not here. Heartbroken, the king went back home and in three years’ time the fee to hell was due and he gave himself up.