Chapter Notes and Summary
Once there lived a wrestler named Vijay Singh in a village. Although he had a strong and muscular body, he had only one weakness. He was extremely fond of boasting. One day he boasted that he could even fight a ghost and teach him a lesson. It was believed that there were ghosts in Haunted Desert near village. Vijay Singh decided to go to desert. Almost entire village came to bid farewell to him. An old lady gave him a small packet carrying an egg and a lump of salt. He set out towards Haunted Desert in search of a ghost. On his way, he met a ghost who claimed to be his friend Natwar.
Vijay Singh knew that he wasn’t Natwar but ghost of deserts. He expressed no fear on meeting ghost. He told ghost that he was stupid as he couldn’t even read a man’s thoughts. Hearing this ghost challenged Vijay for a fight.
Vijay Singh picked a piece of rock. He gave it to ghost and asked him to squeeze it. ghost could not do so. Now Vijay Singh stealthily took out egg from his pocket and squeezed it. egg shell created illusion of a stone being crushed. Vijay Singh took another piece of rock and gave it to ghost and told him that this stone contained salt. He asked ghost to crush it. ghost again could not do so.
Vijay Singh simply took stone in his hand which already had a lump of salt in it and cleverly dropped it in dark. He then asked ghost to taste powdered stone which was nothing else but salt.
Now ghost became afraid of Vijay singh and tried to avoid wrestling with him. He decided to conquer him by cheating. Therefore he invited Vijay Singh to be his guest for night. ghost led him to his house in cave. At midnight Vijay Singh placed a bolster in centre of bed and covered it with a bed sheet to make it look exactly like a sleeping man. He himself slipped into a dark corner. Before break of dawn, ghost took a stout club and struck spot where he thought Vijay Singh’s head was. He struck bolster six more times. Then, he slipped into his bed.
When ghost woke up, he found Vijay Singh still alive. ghost got really scared. He fled from cave leaving all his, wealth. On his return, Vijay Singh took several camels from village to cave and carried property back. Vijay Singh returned major portion of wealth to their rightful owners.
He thanked old woman for her gift, and asked her for her grand daughters hand in marriage.