Skip to main content

Greedy Son






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.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Self-Motivation is the Best Antidote!

If you ever scrutinize around your surroundings you’ll always find motivation in everything. You don’t need to go anywhere. The rising sun always motivates you to rise up early and to begin your new day. The green trees and plants always motivate you to grow every day. The small creepers always motivate you to welcome everybody. The blooming flowers always motivate you to pass a sweet and gentle smile to everyone no matter whatsoever happens in your life. The hovering colourful butterflies always motivate you to remain happy and contented in every situation of your life. The flying and singing birds in the open blue sky always motivate you to free your trapped mind and soul, and to open your closed heart. The fluttering tiny bee always motivates you to keep yourself busy. The crawling small ants always motivate you to work every day. The grazing cattle always motivate you to stay together. The seven colourful rainbows always motivate y...

We get back in life what we give to others! (Moral Story)

  There was a farmer who sold a pound of butter to the baker. One day the baker decided to weight the butter to see if he was getting a pound and he found that he was not. This angered him and he took the farmer to court. The Judge asked the farmer if he was using any measure. The farmer replied, “ Your honor, I am primitive. I don’t have a proper measure, but I do have a scale.” The judge asked, “ Then how do you weight the butter?” The farmer replied, “ Your homour, long before the baker started buying butter from me, I have been buying a pound loaf of bread from him. Every day when the baker brings the bread, I put it on the scale and give him the same weight in butter. If anyone is to be blamed, it is the baker.” What is the moral of the story? We get back in life what we give to others. Whenever you take an action, ask yourself this question: Am I giving fair value for the wages or money I hope to make? Honesty and dishonesty become a habit. Some peopl...

Today’s Quotes

A single hour spent with a good book and a cup of tea can provide an entire day’s worth of contentment. ---***--- Don’t despair when the going gets rough, for that’s when you discover how strong you really are. ---***--- Each and every one of us is deserving of a kind word, a gentle thought, and the gift of understanding. ---***--- You have the power to make happiness a way of life, instead of an occassional experience. ---***--- Pray as if everything depended upon God and work as if everything depended upon man. ---***--- If you really want to be happy, nobody can stop you. ---***--- We would be more peaceful if we would not trust ourselves with the sayings and doings of others. ---***--- The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts and deeds. ---***--- When you are in the right, you can afford to keep your temper, and when you are in the...