5415Appendix A: Meher Baba's Scenario
The following adaptation, titled A Touch of Maya, was given by Baba and used as the basis for several screenplays:
First life, cast of characters:
X: Cannibal man who wins the woman;
Y: Cannibal woman;
Z: Jealous cannibal man who is killed.
Cannibals are eating a corpse around a fire in a jungle. One man, X, catches the eye of a young woman, Y. They smile at one another and he throws her a tasty piece of flesh. She eats it. Another man, Z, is jealous and a fight ensues between the two men. X wins and kills Z.
Second life, cast:
Z: The murdered cannibal is now a cruel king;
X: The lover of the cannibal woman is now a foreigner;
Y: The cannibal woman becomes the cruel king's wife who pities X and asks her husband to spare him.
A great but cruel king, Z, is reigning in Turkey; he kills all foreigners who fall into his hands. X, a Persian, is captured by the king and is tortured: he is bound to a tree and lashed; pins are thrust down his fingernails; he is hanged upside down while the soles of his feet are lashed.
The king's wife, Y, pities the Persian fellow and asks her husband to forgive X for her sake. Z loves his wife greatly and forgives X, who then becomes a court favorite. Eventually, Queen Y falls in love with the foreigner. The king discovers this and kills them both.
Third life, cast:
Y: The queen killed by her husband now is an honest merchant in China;
Z: The cruel king is now the merchant's son, a profligate;
X: The foreigner and queen's lover is now the merchant's wife who loves her son.
Y, a merchant in China and his wife, X, have three daughters and one son. They are millionaires and live lavishly. The merchant is very honest. However, his son, Z, is a corrupt rogue, interested only in drink and drugs. Secretly, he uses his father's money to his own advantage. Z forges Y's check for a large amount, and Y comes to know about it. Instead of helping his son, Y imprisons him.
The merchant's wife, X, loves Z and sorrows deeply. Gradually, she pines away. Soon Y, the merchant, becomes disgusted with his life and dies. Z suffers much in prison, and after being freed, he leads a good life and repents. He dies in peace.
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