Once upon a time, in the corridor between the gates of Heaven and Hell, sat Satan and God, to play chess with each other. The only difference between their game of chess and the chess that earthlings played, was that the latter only decided which human won, whereas the game between God and Satan decided the very future of people whose lives they played with.

‘You have destroyed people’s lives far beyond my wishes, Satan,’ said God as he made a move.

‘But you have power, why not stop my destruction?’ asked Satan with a smile as his pointed tail grasped a pawn and made a move.

‘My power can stop you. But you keep on fighting. You never seem to give up, do you?’ asked God, as he moved his bishop.

Satan laughed wildly, and for once the gates of hell swung open and closed again.

‘We are enemies, why do you sit and play with me?’ Satan asked God.

‘This is not a game. I sit here to stop you from invading people’s minds and spreading evil,’ God said and defeated one of Satan’s knights.

‘EVIL!’ Satan shouted wildly and did not laugh. Again, by Satan’s force, the gates of hell swung open dangerously and two of hell’s guards closed the gates.

‘Evil! That is a very hypocritical thing to say. I do not play with their minds. I give men a choice. I give them pleasure and greed, but I do not spread evil! The men spread evil on their own. I show them power, but they are the ones who leap to accept it. I give them anger and hate, but they are the ones who use it on harmless beings. I give them. And they take it!  Without knowing the consequences. And then they say, ‘An empty mind is like a devil’s workshop.’ The fools! Did I make their brains? Do I tell them what to do?’ Satan shouted aloud and defeated one of the God’s pawns.

‘You termed me as a hypocrite and not a liar. Why so?’ asked God and made his next move.

‘You are the one who spreads evil. When men accept my gifts, you wait and watch till they suffer and know what went wrong. Only when they regret and repent do you show light. You let the evil spread and ruin someone and extend your blessings when they feel sorry for what they have done. And then you say I spread evil. I only give men gifts. They accept it as evil and you let it spread,’ Satan completed and made another move.

‘Men say ‘God helps those who help themselves.’ And it is true. That is because when you give them gifts which they accept as evil, they are in your hold. Unless they get rid of the evil themselves, I cannot help them. I can only show them light and help those who are about to accept your gifts. To show them what the gifts mean,’ said God and made his move.

Satan lost a rook and grumbled. Satan hated defeat but could not argue with God for long.

‘If you stop giving them gifts, they will never accept anything as evil,’ said God.

Satan’s mood changed, and he turned the board upside down and the pieces fell.

God did not react but sat still. God knew Satan had something in mind.

‘We both agree that we do not truly decide anyone’s fate. You believe that only when a man understands his mistake, you can help. And I believe I am equally powerless in the way that I only give men options, and they accept it as evil. So, let us see whose gift a man accepts and whose advice does he listen to,’ said Satan.

 Satan rearranged the board with new pieces; one set of pieces shone with white light and a halo around them and the other set had a burning red tail.

‘What does this mean?’ God asked.

‘We play this game to decide the fate of humans. But today, we shall use our powers to guide them to our own goals and let them decide what they want. The pieces of chess move with every advice. If the man or woman approves my advice, I am the winner and if he approves yours, you are the winner,’ said Satan.

God was sceptical of Satan’s intentions but still accepted. If Satan was angered, even

God could not control him.

Satan and God looked beyond the clouds, beyond heaven and hell, down on earth, and saw a farmer walking in a forest.

‘This is where the game begins,’ said Satan and clapped.

A hooded traveller crossed the farmer’s path, and he stopped. The traveller took hold of the farmer’s hand. The farmer backed away instantly.

‘Who are you?’ asked the farmer.

‘I have something for you, something precious,’ said the traveller.

‘I don’t know you. How can I trust you?’ said the farmer and took a step forward when the traveller blocked him.

‘My identity is not important. But my purpose is. I want to show you something, that can make you rich,’ said the traveller.

The poor farmer was hesitant but curious. He decided to follow the traveller with the belief that he might get lucky.

Satan smiled gleefully. Satan’s bishop defeated God’s knight.

God clapped, and a young boy crossed the path of the farmer and the hooded traveller.

‘I need your help sir. It is important if you can come with me,’ the boy asked the farmer.

The farmer looked at the traveller, who in turn looked at the boy.

The traveller whispered in the farmer’s ear.

‘I agree that the boy’s work must be important. But you can come back here after I have shown you the fortune.’

The word ‘fortune’ blinded the farmer completely. He said sorry to the boy and walked on with the traveller.

And thus, God used all possible means to deviate the farmer from reaching the fortune, by rain, fire, floods and animals but the farmer walked tirelessly with the traveller to reach the fortune.

The young boy met the farmer twice in his path and pleaded the farmer to come with him.

But the traveller repeated the word ‘fortune’, and the farmer could think of nothing else.

‘It looks like I will win,’ Satan said to God as the game of chess progressed and God’s pieces were defeated.

God sat silently and watched below.

At the end of their journey, the traveller and the farmer stopped before a tree. The hooded traveller went behind the tree and brought a huge box. He opened the box for the farmer to look inside.

The farmer felt excited and happy to see the contents of the box. It was filled with gold coins.

‘This box contains endless gold. These gold pieces will never finish, ever. This is magic gold,’ the traveller told the farmer.

The farmer picked up the huge box and was about to take out a gold coin, when he heard the shriek of a woman.

He ran ahead with the box of gold and the traveller followed him. 

Finally, they reached the bank of a river.

The farmer was horrified at what he saw, and the traveller grinned his teeth.

A woman and the young boy, who had met the farmer, were drowning in the river. The woman shouted helplessly for someone to rescue them.

‘That was a good move,’ Satan smiled.

‘You cannot save them. I know you cannot swim. And if you try to swim you will drown,’ the traveller told the farmer.

‘But they will die. I should somehow try to save them. What if I use this box of gold to float in the river?’ the farmer asked the traveller.

‘You certainly cannot save the woman and her boy, because if you try to take the box with you, you will drown as well. You might as well return home rich than die,’ suggested the traveller.

The farmer thought for a moment. Then, with the box in his hands, he turned his back to the river.

God looked at Satan. Satan smiled. He was going to win.

The chess pieces moved. The Satan’s bishop was about to defeat God’s king when the pieces stopped.

Satan looked curiously at the pieces and thought what was wrong.

‘Look below,’ said God.

The farmer turned to face the river.

He asked the traveller.

‘Is this endless, infinite gold?’

‘Yes,’ the traveller answered, though unsure why the traveller had turned towards the river.

The farmer opened the box of gold and dropped the gold coins into the river. The traveller looked aghast.

‘What are you doing?!’ the traveller shouted at the farmer.

The farmer did not listen to the traveller and kept on dropping the gold coins into the river.

‘Do not try to make the river deep, Satan. It is of no use,’ said God.

It was then that Satan realized the farmer’s intentions.

The gold coins had sunk to the bottom of the river and slowly accumulated.

The coins rose above the water level and a bridge of gold coins connected the two riverbanks. The woman and the boy were saved as they were lifted by the bridge.

The farmer dropped the box, and it fell on the ground. He ran over the bridge to reach the woman and her boy. The woman walked with the boy towards the farmer. The traveller looked anxiously.

The woman grabbed the farmer’s hand.

‘I will not lose,’ said Satan and clapped.

The traveller kicked the box of gold coins into the river. Mountains of gold rose from within the river and the coins fell on the farmer, woman and the young boy.

‘They shall be buried under gold. All of them,’ cried Satan wildly.

‘This is unfair,’ said God.

Tides of golden coins showered on the three, but they ran hurriedly to reach the other riverbank.

The chess pieces moved. Satan was defeated.

‘What!’ howled Satan.

Just as a huge tide of coins was about to bury them, the three jumped in the air and fell on the other riverbank.

‘I win. Checkmate,’ said God.

The woman, the boy and the farmer walked along the path and disappeared from God and Satan’s vision.

The traveller, the Satan’s agent, disappeared and so did all the gold coins in the river.

Satan spit fire and grabbed his horns. God smiled.

‘I cannot believe it. The foolish man. He refused gold for someone else’s life. How was he so sure that he could save them?’  Satan asked.

‘You were absolutely right, Satan.’

‘How?’

‘You told me that you give men choices and gifts that they accept as evil. But they are only in your hold if they accept your gift as evil. This farmer could have accepted your gold to spend lavishly and foolishly on things that did not matter. But he did not accept it for bad or evil. He used the gold to rescue the woman and the boy. He did not accept your gift as you wanted him to. The ‘foolish’ man did the right thing.’

‘But I was giving him gold. You gave him nothing,’ said Satan.

‘The farmer used your gift to get two gifts of mine. He attained goodness and courage,’ said God.

Satan stepped away from the chess board and walked to the gates of hell.

‘Better luck next time,’ God shouted behind him and smiled.