Duel by magic. by Betty Chatterjee (best book club books of all time txt) 📕

Dual by magic.

Once upon a time in a far-off and splendid city there was a king named Izil the magnificent, who by the grace of God was powerful, wise, wealthy and blessed with an indescribably beautiful daughter called Tuftent.

In the same city, at the same time there lived a poor and sweet-natured widow named Tadefi who by the grace of God was blessed with a loving, industrious, daring, handsome, optimistic and obstinate son Anazar. He had made up his mind that one fine day he would achieve the impossible by marrying the king’s daughter, after which they would live happily ever after.

One day thinking that the time was ripe Anazar went to the king’s palace and presented himself as a prospective son-in-law. King Izil scratched his head, gazed at the youth and seemed to ponder whether he should get his guards to kick him back to where he belonged or take the proposal seriously.

Finally he decided to challenge the audacious young man. Instead of questioning him about his health, wealth, connections and career prospects, King Izil started quizzing him about his magical skills. Talking about magic usually did the trick when unsuitable suitors for his daughter’s hand came knocking on the palace gates.

What could Anazar say? The poor lad had to admit that he could not perform even the most elementary spells; changing frogs into princes, or princes into frogs for that matter had never ever crossed his mind.
Finally he sighed deeply before saying:
“Sorry, I haven’t got the faintest idea about what you’re talking about!”

For the first time King Izil looked vaguely impressed, as the last thing he ever expected was an honest admittance of ignorance, so he said:
“Well, off you go, learn all about it, then come back and we’ll see!”

Feeling both thwarted and encouraged Anazar retired to his hovel, where he began planning his next move.


As it happens one of the other residents in that city was the competent, cunning and infamous wizard Yufayyur, who lived alone with Tamment his daughter of uncertain age, who had fortunately/unfortunately not inherited his talents.

Not that she was totally useless; wizards enjoy their home comforts and she was a phenomenal cook. However even for wizards time does not stand still and he wanted to pass on his skills to the younger generation. His only concern was that his apprentices should never excel his own achievements.

News travels fast in any community and the day after the royal audience Yufayyur had already got wind of our hero’s aspirations. It had been one of those mornings senior citizens know only too well; so after rubbing his back ruefully he grabbed his staff and hobbled off to pay Anazar a visit.

Arriving at the hovel he heard Tadefi ranting and raving, weeping and wailing as sensible mothers tend to do when their children get ideas above their station:
“A bird in hand is worth two in a bush!
Isn’t Lunja (the girl next door) good enough for you?
Mark my words! You’re heading for disaster!
Be glad that you can sell a few eggs in the market and grow a few vegetables.
Leave all that magic nonsense to that ne’er do well Yufayyur!”

Overhearing this, the ne’re do well decided that it was about time to interrupt her monologue. So raising his staff he thumped loudly on the rickety door.

Silence! Then a minute later Tadefi timidly opened up and seeing the glint in Yufayyur’s steely eyes realized that he had certainly overheard her unflattering remarks.

“I wish to speak to your son – alone!”
“Please come in, my lord I was just about to fetch water from the fountain,”

Then seizing her pitcher she rushed out into the alley before he could manage to take his revenge.

Yufayyur entered the tiny dwelling, where he found Anazar squatting despondently in a corner.On seeing his unexpected caller he jumped up immediately and beamed a welcome.

Yufayyur nodded severely.
“Never waste a moment lolling in the corner. Want to be a wizard, do you?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“King Izil says…”
“I know all about that. What else?”
What was needed here was a diplomatic reply, so he said:
“I want wordly influence, and to achieve that I need out-of –this-world skills that only you can teach me.”
“Hm! Are you prepared to work hard, accept my bad temper and promise never to aim higher than being number two; I am number one?”
“Of course.”
"Who's number 1?"
"You are!"
“Very well! You start your apprenticeship tomorrow morning at 7 o’clock sharp. You will work 7 days a week for 7 years. I will allow you to return home every evening. Being a merciful man I will even grant your wretched, lying, loose-tongued mother enough eggs and vegetables to survive on.”
“Thank you, my lord! I can be there even before seven, if you wish.”
“Certainly not! 7 o’clock on the dot!”


After a sleepless night Anazar rose at the crack of dawn for fear of being late for his first day as the wizard’s apprentice.

At 7 o’clock he was just about to knock on the door of Yufayyur’s large but rather dismal dwelling, when the door swung open and there was Tamment the wizard’s one and only daughter. Smiling modestly she beckoned him into the dingy hall, where he heard a rumble of deafening snores from somewhere in the depths of the house:
“Shush! He’s still asleep!”
“But, it’s 7.”
“Yes, he always gets his apprentices to turn up at 7. He never gets up himself until 8. Come and have some breakfast.”

She led him into the kitchen where she served him sweet mint tea, fragrant freshly baked bread generously smothered with honey, as well as dates and oranges.

Enjoying this unexpected feast he listened politely whilst she babbled away non-stop:
“Boy am I glad he’s finally got a new apprentice! He kicked the last one out ten years ago and it’s been dead as the grave ever since. How I’ve missed all those spats about the spells that went wrong and the curses that misfired. At least now there'll be someone in the house who'll appreciate my cooking!”

On the stroke of eight Yufayyur hobbled yawning into the kitchen. Without giving any sign whatsoever that he had even noticed his new apprentice he sat down and consumed an enormous breakfast. Then he stood up, belched thunderously and roared:
“Very well Anazar you've wasted enough time talking to my chatterbox of a daughter! Let’s get cracking!”

So they got cracking and the rest of the morning was spent learning a few elementary skills. Anazar listened attentively so he soon learnt about charms to ward off the evil eye and simple spells guarranteed to cure common ailments such as warts and indigestion.

It was all going according to plan until Anazar began to flag; after all he had been up since the crack of dawn. Due to fatigue he inadvertently mixed up a couple of charms which threatened to cause a totally unmentionable problem. Quick as lightning Yufayyur chanted an antidote of a spell thus averting a total catastrophe.

Just as Yufayyur was about to get into a terrible tizzy Tamment came in from the kitchen and said:
“Come and get it!”

Lunch was on the table.


This first day set the scene for the years to come.

Every morning Anazar arrived at 7 o’clock sharp to endure the combined cacophony of snoring and grumbling whilst enjoying an out-of-this world delicious breakfast. The rest of the day would be spent memorising and practising magical arts.

As time went by Anazar made fewer and fewer mistakes, Yufayyur had fewer and fewer temper tantrums and Tamment had fewer and fewer opportunities to pour oil on troubled waters; after all she did prefer peaceful coexistence to botched up spells and spats.

In fact as time rolled by she began to feel a sisterly affection for Anazar and although her father appeared to be satisfied with his apprentice, she knew that if Anazar got too clever he would be signing his own death warrant.

At breakfast the day after Anazar had taken the initiative to concoct a charm capable of inducing simultaneous transfigurations or something equally incomprehensible, Tamment decided that the time had come to give him a dose of sisterly advice:

“Getting too big for your boots?”
Anazar who had just taken an outsize bite of his 5th honey sandwich nearly choked in surprise; after nearly seven years her morning spiel had moved on.
“Boots? What are you going on about?”
“Yesterday morning’s capers show that you are getting too big for your boots.”
“Yes, that was really something! Did you see the look on your Dad’s face?”
“Certainly did!”
“YES! I’m the greatest! When King Izil hears about it, he’ll come knocking on my door. Tamment you’ll come to my wedding as one of the guests of honor and….”
“Boy, you’ve got a head like a sieve! Have you forgotten what my dad told you the day before you started your apprenticeship?
‘Never aim higher than being number two; I, Yufayyur, am number one”
“Oh yes, come to think..”
“Good, I’m so glad you’ve finally started thinking! In a few weeks’ time you’ve got your final exam. If you fail, you’re in trouble. If you pass, you’re in real trouble; out of the frying pan into the fire.”

The words ‘frying pan’ reminded her that she’d left her own frying pan in the embers and it now needed urgent attention.
“What should I do?”
“Start thinking! I’ve put you in the know; the rest is up to you.”

So Anazar decided to take her advice and the first wise thought that came into his mind was:

‘Never look a gift horse in the mouth!’

He gazed fondly at Tamment, smiled broadly, thanked her profusely and vowed lifelong friendship and protection.

Tamment merely snorted retorting cryptically:
“Time will tell, time will tell!”

A moment later Yufayyur strode into the kitchen, sniffed suspiciously and barked:
“You gibber-jabbering chatterbox, you’ve burnt my breakfast – again!”

Needless to say that was a gross exaggeration; but it made Anazar realize that the gauntlet was down.

With two weeks to go before the fateful exam, Anazar showed himself to be an inscrutable paragon of virtue: diligent, respectful, obedient and in all ways beyond suspicion.

However every evening when on retiring to his hovel he set about plotting his salvation.

The best way of defeating tyrants is to find their Achilles’ heels and Yufayyur’s was his inability to wake up in time to prevent all that early morning kitchen gibber-jabber.

Therefore Anazar decided to create a charm that would keep Yufayyur in the land of Nod long enough for him to flee far, far away to a safe haven where he could bide his time before coming back to claim the hand of the indescribably beautiful Princess Tuftent.

The day before the examination Anazar was fit for fight! Not only had he concocted a magical sleeping draught that he could cunningly slip into Yufayyur’s afternoon mint tea, he had also prepared two protective silver amulets for Tamment and Tadefi (his mother); after all they would still be