The Brahmin and the Cobra

A long time ago, there lived a Brahmin named Haridatta in a distant land. He lived by the earnings from a small farm he owned in the village. In spite of being hard-working, he was very poor.

On a hot and sunny day, he became very tired while working on his farm and decided to rest under the shade of a tree. Beside the tree, there was an ant-hill. As he lay down, he saw a cobra emerging with his hood up. He thought that this cobra might be the deity of the farm. Therefore, he offered milk to the cobra in a pot, with a hope that the deity will be happy and bless him with rich produce. He also offered apologies and said, “O Lord of the farm, I didn’t know you lived here. I was neglectful of you all this time, please forgive me! And please bless me.”

The next day Haridatta returned to work on his farm. He was surprised to see a shining gold coin placed in the pot. He was overjoyed. He immediately thanked the cobra and went to the market to sell the gold coin.

Now every day Haridatta would offer milk to the cobra. The next morning, he would find a gold coin placed in the pot. This routine went for a number of years and Haridatta became a wealthy merchant. He also got married and had a son with his wife.

One day, he went to a far-off city to negotiate some trade with another merchant. He told his son to not forget to offer milk to the cobra every day. He also told him to collect the gold coin the next morning.

His son could not believe his ears when he came to know about the gold coin story. He was not ready to believe it without seeing. The next day, he offered milk to the cobra. Now he anxiously waited for the next morning. In the morning he was surprised to see the gold coin in the pot.

A feeling of greediness came to his heart and he thought, “If I kill the cobra and I will get all gold coins at once.”

The next day, he waited with a stick. As soon as the Cobra came out, he struck a blow on his head. The cobra didn’t die because of the blow. He attacked and bit Haridatta’s son in return.

The boy died on the farm due to the poison and was cremated by the villagers on the farm. When Haridatta returned and came to know about the story, he was heart-broken. However, he didn’t blame the cobra for his son’s death.

The next morning Haridatta went to his farm with a pot of milk for the cobra. However, the cobra was waiting for him with his hood raised. He said to Haridatta “Oh you shameless person! You have no respect for yourself. You are so greedy that you overlook the death of your son. He died because he became greedy and attacked me.”

Haridatta replied, “No I came because I wanted to see you.”

“You wanted something from me, so you fed me. You and I are not friends anymore. Please don’t come back to feed me,” the Cobra said.

Haridatta had learned his lesson of being selfish and neglecting moral values. He never saw the cobra again.

MORAL: Always stick to moral values and never become greedy.

Once upon a time, there was a rare bird named Sindhuka. The bird had a special quality that made him a rare one. His droppings turned into gold. The bird was living on a huge tree. One day, a bird hunter came to the jungle to hunt birds. However, the hunter had a bad day. He couldn’t hunt even a single bird.

The tired hunter decided to rest under the tree where Sindhuka used to live. Ironically, Sindhuka, at the same time, excreted the droppings which fell on the hunter and immediately turned into gold. On seeing the droppings turning into gold, the hunter was awestruck!!!

Before this, the hunter had never ever heard of a bird with golden droppings. “Catching this one bird is profitable than wasting time to catch all birds,” he thought. However, catching a bird with golden droppings will definitely make me rich.” Therefore, he set a trap on the tree to catch Sindhuka.

Soon afterward, Sindhuka got trapped in the hunters net. Sindhuka now regretted of not being careful enough with the laid trap. The hunter was very happy and he kept Sindhuka inside a cage and marched towards the city. He was planning that soon he will be rich with the golden dropping off the bird.

But later he thought that someday the public will come to know about the secret of the golden droppings and they may snatch the bird from him. So, he planned that this is a rare royal bird with golden droppings and it needs a royal treatment. So, he decided to gift the bird to the king and in return, the king will give him a bounty in price.

Soon he reached the palace and gifted the rare bird to the king. He also informed the king and the court members about the golden droppings. On hearing this, the king became happy and ordered his servants to place the bird in a golden cage and provide utmost care to Sindhuka. But the king’s minister refused to accept the fact that the bird had golden droppings.

“This hunter is a fraud,” the ministers said. “Why will he give you a bird with golden droppings and not keep it with himself?” The ministers suggested to the king to free the bird from the cage and it is a trick by the hunter to get a bounty from the king. The king followed his minister’s advice and ordered the soldiers to release the bird and punish the hunter.

As soon as Sindhuka was released, he perched himself on a high wall and discharged his droppings, which to the amazement of the king and his ministers turned into gold.

On realizing that he had made a mistake and that golden droppings rumor was indeed true, the king in no time ordered the soldiers to catch the bird, but it was too late!! The bird was already free, Sindhuka flipped his wings and flew off where nobody could catch him. Bravo! Sindhuka was free again. This time Sindhuka promised himself never to be careless again.

Moral: It is important to check thoroughly, even though facts and rumors may seem improbable.