Once a poor farmer named Haridutta lived in a village. His father
left him a small piece of land. Haridutta worked very hard to till the land but
no crops grew out of it. He was always struggling to make his ends meet.
One day on a hot afternoon, Haridutta was sitting in the
shade of a mango tree which was near the farmland he owned. Just then, he saw a
black snake coming out of a hole in his farmland.
He was about to kill the snake with his stick when he
spotted the mark of trident on his hood. Haridutta thought, “Oh, this seems to
be a divine snake. May be this farmland has never yielded crops only because I
did not offer prayers to the snake. I will give the divine snake its due honour
and seek his blessings.”
So Haridutta rushed to his hut near the farmland. He came
back with a bowl of milk and placed the bowl near the hole and went away.
Next day haridutta again visited the farmland to pick the
empty bowl. To his surprise he saw a gold coin lying in the empty bowl. The coin
was shinning in the sun. Haridutta saw the snake and bowed his head before it
and said, “Thank you, snake god, for blessing me this way. I will serve you all
my life. Please do something to help my family lead a comfortable and happy
life.”
Then Haridutta placed the milk-filled bowl near the hole
once again. Next morning he again found a gold coin in the empty bowl. Thus,
this happened every day. Soon Haridutta saved much gold and became a rich
person. He bought a new house, fine clothes and jewelleries. Many servants
worked for him. But he never forgot to worship the snake god. He fed him milk
everyday and bowed his head in reverence.
After some years, one day Haridutta had to leave the village
to visit a relative in town. He knew he would be away for two or three days so
he called his son and said, ‘Son, a snake lives in a hole in our farmland. In my
absence you must keep a bowl of milk for it near the hole every night. Next morning
you must go and collect the empty bowl. Whatever you find in the empty bowl you
must keep that safe till I return.”
“Yes, father, I will do so per your instructions,” Haridutta’s
obedient son replied.
Haridutta left for the town that night. His son took a bowl
full of milk and kept it near the hole. The snake drank up all the milk and
left the bowl with a gold con in it. Next morning when Haridutta’s son came to
take away the empty bowl, he found the gold coin in it. He thought, “So this is
the secret of my father’s sudden wealth. Anyway let me keep this coin for my
father.”
Next day when Haridutta’s son found a gold coin to himself,
“I’ll keep this gold coin for myself. I think this snake has some hidden treasure
in the hole. I will dig out all of them and become rich.”
So he went home and returned with a stout stick to kill the
snake. When the snake came to drink the milk, he threw the stick at it. The snake
was hurt and moved away. The greedy son tried to dig the hole wider to find the
hidden treasure of gold coins, but the angry snake return, spread its hood wide
and bit at the boy’s feet.
Haridutta’s son cried out loud in pain. He called for help. Some
farmers heard his cries. They came to rescue Haridutta’s son. But, by the time
they reached there the snake had bitten him at several places. The poison had
spread all over the body. Soon his body turned blue and he breathed his last. The
farmers could not help him at all. They took his dead body home.
Next day, when Haridutta returned home he was shocked. His son’s
greed had caused a great damage to him. Not only had he lost his only son but
also the snake god which was the regular source of the gold coins.
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