The Greedy Hunter

There once lived a female parrot in a big banyan tree. In the hole of another nearby tree lived a venomous serpent. One day, the parrot laid some eggs and sat tenderly on them, waiting for the little ones to hatch. Unknown to her,

  

  

A hunter was carefully watching from another tree and one day he heard the cheep of fledglings. ‘Ah, this is my lucky day, the little ones will bring good sum’ he said.

Pretty soon, the little birds began to cry for food, so the mother parrot moved out of the nest. When the parrot flew off in search of food, the hunter climbed the tree and grabbed the little ones. Just then the mother parrot returned and seeing the hunter cried out, ‘please do not take them, they have not yet opened their eyes, why should anyone want to harm them?’

‘Why do you fear?’ said the hunter, ‘I am not going to kill them, I am only going to keep them as pets’. ‘Not only is he heartless, but also he is lying’, thought the parrot. ‘I must teach him a lesson’.

            Then the parrot set an idea.

            ‘If money is what you want’, she said to the hunter, ‘then leave my little ones, I will show you a place full of gold to keep you rich for the rest of your life.’ The hunter was very happy. He said ‘Where is the place, just show me now’. The parrot replied, but first you must leave my little ones in the nest, then you should follow me’.

After placing the fledglings in the nest, the hunter followed the bird. She led him to the tree where the serpent lived and then pointed towards the hole and said’ put your hand inside and take all the gold you want.’

As soon as the hunter put his hand inside the hole, he screamed with pain, ‘ah-ah, I have been bitten by a serpent.’ Within minutes, his poisoned body lay motionless and dead. The parrot watched this from her nest and whispered to the little ones, ‘it is a pity he had to die, but that was the only way I could save my little ones from him.’

           

What We Learn?

This story reveals that crime never go unpunished as it is committed by the greedy one.

The Generous Host

            Once there was a villager who was quite poor but he was so kind and generous that he offered food to any one who came to his door, His wife was very unhappy about it,

  

  

‘Why are you always giving away your food when we have hardly anything for ourselves?’ she often complained. But the villager paid no attention to this and so his wife looked for an opportunity to teach him a lesson.

           

One day, when the villager was returning home, he met some travelers who were looking for a place to rest and eat.

           

At once the villager invited them to his house. When his wife saw this, she was furious, ‘there is not a grain of rice in the house, what shall we offer them?’ she yelled. ‘S-S-S-Sh, So saying, he grabbed a gunny bag and set out for the bazaar. His wife was upset,

  

‘Whatever food he brings will be served to those men and again we will have only rice to ear’ she thought, ‘I must find out a way to drive those men before he returns’.

           

She laid the grinding stone on the kitchen floor as if to grind spices for cooking and at the same time she let out a loud cry, ‘oh my God, oh my God what will become of these men, oh my God’. The travelers heard her cry from the next room. They went inside the kitchen and asked her what the matter was.

           

‘Oh my God’ she pretended to cry, ‘I do not know, but I have to tell you this. My husband said that he is going to knock you all in the head with this stone after he returns from the market’ she said.

           

As soon as the men heard this, they looked at each other’s faces and whispered, ‘let’s get out of here, brothers, before he returns, this is a mad house’. So they left as fast as they could.

           

In the mean time the villager returned home. Unable to find the guests he asked his wife, ‘where are they?’ His wife replied, ‘they asked for the grinding stone and I didn’t give it to them, so they left’. ‘You refused to give our guests an ordinary stone, shame on you’ exclaimed the villager. Then he grabbed the stone and ran out of the house muttering, ‘I will run after them and give them the stone’.

           

Pretty soon he spotted them walking. Then he shouted, ‘come back my friends, here is the grinding stone you can have’. As soon as the men heard this, they started to run faster. When the men heard this, they started to run faster. When the men reached the town, they told their fellow men about what had happened at the villager’s house. After that, much to his wife’s relief, no one accepted the villager’s invitation or accepted food from his house.

The foolish Crane

A crane lived all by himself near a small lake on the sides of which grew tall coconut trees. The lake being almost dry for the summer, there was just enough fish for the crane alone to live. But the old crane was vain about his place, the lake, the trees, ‘how I wish other cranes would come and see how lucky I am’ he thought.

            Then one day he saw a flock of cranes flying past the lake. ‘Stop, stop, be my guests’ he shouted. When the leader of the flock came near, the old crane felt very proud and said, ‘you can perch on the coconut trees and eat the fish in the lake. The old crane went around showing the place. The leader thought for a moment and then said, ‘we are pleased by your hospitality, but we are so many of us, so permit us to go our way’. The old crane felt insulted and began to lament, ‘if you do not accept my hospitality, then I will give up my life’ The wise crane had no choice but to accept the crane’s proposal.

            So the crane’s took him at his word and began feasting on the fish. The old crane felt quite proud and strutted about in his vanity. Soon the cranes started to bet with one another, ‘I bet I can eat more’ said one crane.’ I have eaten six fishes already, I bet I can eat more, said the other crane. With all their betting, they soon finished all the fish in the lake.

            That evening the leader of the crane came to the old crane and said, ‘there is nothing here for our evening meal, we are grateful for your hospitality, but we must leave now’.

            The old crane began to repent for his folly but it was too late. As the flock flew away, the leader felt sorry for the crane, ‘if only he had listened to us’ he said, this wouldn’t have happened to him, because he is not going to live for long.

            A few days later, weak and hungry, the old crane died.

What we learn?

Pride or vanity never be better.