Near the small town of Naushahro in the district of Nawabshah, there is an old fort called Murad jo Killo or Murad’s Fort. It is a big place, but crumbling to ruins; still the walls that remain are so wide that three men, so it is said, can sleep on them side by side. There is also in that part of the country a proverbial saying, used when anyone grumbles at his lot, “Does he want Murad jo phaho” (the noose of Murad). Now this is the tale that is told both of the fort and of the proverbial saying:

Somewhere in the early part of the eighteenth century, when Nur Mahomed Kalhoro was ruler of Sind, he had as jamadar or headman of his grass-cutters a certain Murad, known as Murad Ganjo or Murad the Bald. So completely had his hair vanished, that you might have looked all over his head from north to south and from east to west and then any other way you liked, but you would not have found a single hair on any part of it. Murad used daily to inspect the grass-cutters’ work and when on this duty, he noticed an old half-mad woman called Fatima. For some days he paid no attention to her. Then it occurred to him that the old woman might be a witch or sorceress, whom it might be well to propitiate; so he reverently went up to her and asked for her blessing. The old woman looked at him attentively and then blessed him, adding [54]“Murad the Bald, you will become a kardar,” or as we should say nowadays a tapedar or talati. Murad thought no more about the prophecy until one day Nur Mahomed Kalhoro, in return for Murad’s honesty and hard work, promoted him from jamadar of grass-cutters to be a kardar.

Murad was now quite certain that the old woman was a real sorceress, one to be made much of in every way. For many months he brought her daily small gifts of food or money; then he summoned up courage to ask again for her blessing. Again the old woman looked at him intently, blessed him and added “Murad the Bald, you will be a naib subha,” or as we should say nowadays a Deputy Collector. Not many months passed before Nur Mahomed Kalhoro, still more pleased with Murad’s steady and faithful work, promoted him to be a Naib Subha. There is a French proverb which says L’appétit vient en mangeant, that is to say the greedy are never satisfied; and Murad began to feel soon that the post of Naib Subha was far beneath his merits. He plied the old woman with more valuable gifts and for the third time asked her blessing. She looked intently at him as before and blessing him for the third time said “Murad the Bald, you will become a subha” or as we should say a Collector of a district. Murad the Bald not very long afterwards was given charge of a district, thereby reaching a post far above his deserts. He was still an ignorant, unlettered boor and for a time he was fully satisfied with his office. He built the great fort known as Murad jo Killo and seemed perfectly contented. But after a year or two be began to think that the old woman, who had raised him so high, might raise him higher still, might make him a king or perhaps even emperor of Delhi. After all stranger things had happened before and “Allah alone knoweth all.” Tortured by his insatiable [55]greed, Murad the Bald showered jewels and gold on the old woman and for the fourth time asked for her blessing. But this time a terrible thing occurred. Instead of the fixed kindly look, that she had been used to give him, her eyes flashed with demoniac fury and instead of a blessing, she cursed him “Murad the Bald,” she screamed at him “you will rise higher still, you will be hanged.” Poor Murad left the witch as she raved and gnashed her teeth and going home, tried in vain to put the matter out of his mind.

Now it so happened that the Afghan ruler of Multan, Nadir Khan by name, lost the youngest and most beautiful of his wives. She fell in love with one of her lord’s servants and ran away with him right out of the Multan province into Murad’s district. She took with her a huge diamond and a priceless manuscript on surgery and medicine. Murad the Bald came to hear of the arrival of the two fugitives and promptly took from them the diamond and the manuscript, which he stored in the royal treasure house of Nur Mahomed Kalhoro. The queen and her lover, fearing that they might themselves be detained and given over to Nadir Khan, fled from Sind pretending that they were going on a pilgrimage to Mecca.

In the meantime the indignant Nadir Khan in vain looked all over his kingdom for his missing queen and servant. At last he learnt that she and her lover had fled into the lands of Nur Mahomed Kalhoro. Nadir Khan summoned his army and marching to the frontier, demanded the surrender of the queen and her lover, the diamond and the manuscript. Nur Mahomed Kalhoro enquired of Murad and learnt that the guilty couple had fled, but that the diamond and the manuscript were safe in his treasury. He sent back the manuscript and the diamond. “These came into our hands,” he wrote, “but they [56]do not belong to us. The guilty couple have fled, so we cannot return them, but take the manuscript and the diamond since they are yours. We do not want them nor do we wish for war. Nevertheless, if you are bent on war, we shall accept your challenge. We shall gladly shew you how strong are our arms and how sharp are our swords.”

Nadir Khan liked Nur Mahomed’s answer and instead of war there was peace, and instead of battles and skirmishes there were visits and reviews and banquets. Nevertheless Nadir the Afghan was not quite sure that Nur Mahomed Kalhoro had not seized his beautiful queen and hidden her in some deep recess of his own harem. He sent for Murad and begged him to speak the truth: “If my queen and servant have really gone to Mecca, it is useless to search for them here; but if Nur Mahomed Kalhoro is secretly keeping my queen, then I shall slay him and give his throne to the man, who tells me the whole truth.” As Murad listened to the words of the Afghan, Satan the Stoned seized his five senses. Forgetting all his master’s kindness and favours, he thought to himself that there now stretched in front of him an open and easy road to a throne. With seeming reluctance he confessed that the queen and her paramour had never left Sind. Nur Mahomed Kalhoro had taken the queen to be his concubine and had cut off the head of her paramour with a single stroke of his sword, just as if he had been a buffalo. Nadir the Afghan believing Murad and angry at what he believed to be the double dealing of Nur Mahomed Kalhoro, resolved to march into Sind and to seat Murad on the throne in his place. He had gone only one march when the news reached him that his missing queen and her lover had been found in the country of a neighbouring Raja, who was sending them back in chains to their master. [57]

Nadir the Afghan was now as angry with Murad as he had been with Nur Mahomed Kalhoro. He told the latter the lying tale told by his subha Murad. Mahomed Nur was shocked at the ingratitude of the base born wretch on whom he had lavished favours. His horsemen rode out and seized Murad the Bald and at the king’s orders, hanged him from the battlements of his own fortress. So ended the fortunes of the greedy and faithless adventurer; and that is why men say to-day that it is better to be contented with one’s lot than to rise so high that in the end one dangles from the end of a rope forty or fifty feet above the ground.