Defeating Fate! Huh! What a title! What do you say? Is Fate your slave to dance to your tunes? It is always our master. Don't try to jest us. I hear you say so.

There is no doubt Fate is our master. The English poet John Dryden, too, had said the same in different lines:

It's Fate that flings the dice,
And as she flings
Of Kings make peasants
And of peasants kings.

If that is one view, folklore has a different view on Fate. The other day, I was reading a mini story from cowboy folklore that highlighted defeating Fate. The story talks of a mason returning home with his weekly wages. At an unexpected moment, he came face to face with an armed plunderer. "Your money or your life", threatened the bully. The mason humbly replied, "Take my money and leave me to my wife and children. But before you go away, do me a favour. Shoot a bullet through my hat so as to convince my wife that I was robbed."

The robber did as requested. The mason said, "Put more bullets... My wife should not take me for a coward. Let us make it look as if I ran into a gang of robbers." The robber obliged the mason and put more holes through the hat. Finally, he said, "No more holes. I am out of bullets." The mason, in his stentorian voice, said, "Ha... That is what I want to hear from you. Now hand me back my money. You will have to give me some more for battering my hat. If not, I will thrash you to death." He then raised his clenched fist and threatened him. The poor robber threw down the money and ran for his life. So, the very first thing to defeat Fate is getting rid of fear and getting ready to face it. Fate came to the mason in the form of a robber. But look at how he drove it away with his presence of mind. Kudos to the mason.

Once, St Francis of Assisi visited the Sultan of Egypt. Eager to insult the Saint, the Sultan laid a trap for him. He ordered a carpet designed with crosses to be spread where the Saint must stand before the Sultan, who schemed: "If he walks on it, I shall accuse him of insulting his God, if he does not, I shall accuse him of insulting me."

The Saint's vigilant eyes did not fail to notice the crosses that covered the carpet. Yet he trod on it, for he didn't want to show disrespect towards the Sultan. But the Sultan, awaiting such an opportunity, accused the Saint of insulting his God.

Without a moment's hesitation, the Saint said, "Our Lord died between two thieves who were also hanged on crosses. We Christians have the true cross. But the crosses of the thieves we leave to you and these I am not ashamed to tread on."

We can't but simply admire St. Francis of Assisi's presence of mind. Seeking danger is folly. But however cautious we may be, we cannot expect to pass through life without being occasionally in some danger. And when we are in danger, we should muster our courage up and, like the little boy David who faced the giant Goliath, meet it firmly and calmly.

When we are in danger, what really confounds us is fear. We are quite unable to do anything for our own protection or relief. Say, for example, our clothes catch fire. Fear grips us. We panic. Fear drives our common sense away. We rush here and there like wind, unknowingly allowing the fire to spread. Clothes burn very quickly and soon scorch the body. We may even be killed. But such a chance is less if we act with prudence.

In such a precarious situation, all that we have to do is to think. What best can be done to escape harm? We can instantly extinguish the flames by rolling on the floor or wrapping a carpet around ourselves.

But how many of us don't panic at such moments and do all such things that are unwarranted of us? When fear rules, it banishes our prudence and common sense. We have no way but to yield to the so-called Fate. Yet some keep themselves calm and watchful so as to able to escape the impending disaster. This is known as preserving our presence of mind - a quality that is always admirable.

It is not that we do not have the presence of mind. But fear is a predominant emotion that easily overwhelms all other emotions. And when fear spreads out its tentacles towards us, only one in a thousand would manage to escape with the help of prudence. Perhaps that is why we admire in others what we lack in ourselves.

Life creates situations, both friendly and unfriendly. It is only the unfriendly ones that teach us lessons. They are our critics, and without them, we will never know our worth. When the situation is quite critical, how to wriggle our way out of the web woven by the spider of Fate? For this, we need the presence of mind.

Here is the best example of a man on whose doors unfriendly Fate knocked twice to put him into the ever-gaping mouth of Death, but how, with his presence of mind, he was able to pull himself out of the jaws of Death.

A court Jester, in an attempt to pull the king out of his sober mood, joked about the queen. The king took it to heart. He decided to punish the Jester with death for the dig he made on his spouse. On the morning of the next day, the Jester was brought to the court. As arranged earlier, a menial brought in a cur.

"For all that you have said about my queen, I can do no better than treat you like a cur," began the king, still in an angry mood. He continued, "You can kill this cur in any manner you like. And you will be killed in the same way."

"To compare me with a street dog is more than punishment enough, my lord. When you have already killed me why do you want to kill me again?" asked the Jester.

"Shut up, act," howled the king.

The Jester looked at the poor cur destined to die in his hands. He bent down, held the cur by its tail tightly with both his hands, raised the dog above his head and brought it down to the floor with such great force that the animal died after letting out a sharp yell.
The king had to gulp down the spittle that had collected in his mouth. He forgave the Jester for his presence of mind with a warning that he would not be spared next time.

Months passed. The Jester was very careful in his handling of words. But at one unexpected moment, the king caught him. It was just a slip of the tongue. That is the power of man-made words. Words infuriate. Words console. Words kill. Words bring us back to life. The poor Jester, having tempted Fate, was dragged to the court. The king, without wasting time on any sort of prelude, abruptly said, "Choose your death".
The Jester stood flabbergasted. "You can choose to die in any manner you like. The choice is yours. Your last wish that is your choice of death will be granted," promised the king.

"My lord! Now that you have promised not to go back on your words, let me tell you my last wish," said the Jester.

"Yes, go ahead. How would you like to die?" asked the king.

The Jester replied, "Your Majesty! I would like to die of old age."