Once upon a time there lived a Brahmin in a village. He was a
wicked thief. The villagers said that the Brahmin was cursed to become a thief
due to his bad action in previous birth.
One day four merchants came to the village. They sold wares
and earned a lot of money. When the thief saw the merchants, he became greedy
and wanted to steal their money. So he went to them as a friend. He gained
their trust and requested them to keep him for helping them their business
work. The merchants agreed.
The thief began working for the merchants. One day, the
merchants decided to return home. So they sold all the wares. One of them
suggested that traveling with all the money they had would not be safe. The
other merchants agreed. They all decided to buy gold with the money and hide it
in the thighs. They healed their wounded thighs with special ointment.
The thief knew this secret. He decided to rob the merchants
on their way back home by poisoning them.
When the merchants began leaving, the sly thief began
bewailing and told them, 'Dear friends, we have been together for these many
days. Now when you all are leaving, I am grieved and will be left alone. I
plead to take me with you. I will continue to work for you all'.
The merchants who trusted the thief as a good friend and were
happy with his work were moved to hear him grieve. They agreed to take him
along.
The next morning merchants and the thief started the journey.
They crossed villages and planes.
While they were passing through a
jungle, they came across a tribal area. The chief of the tribe had a crow. The
crow had power to see future and as he shrieked, 'Some men are approaching our
area. Seize and kill them, they have treasure'.
The chief ordered his tribesmen to guard the area and captive
the men as soon as they were seen.
Soon the merchant and the thief were captivated. The
tribesmen treated them mercilessly and searched them to find the treasure. But
they could find nothing.
Learning that no treasure was found, the chief warned the men
- 'The crow told us that you have treasure and it never lies. Where have you
hidden the treasure? Hand over the treasure or we will kill you as the crow
told us to do'.
Hearing what the chief said, the thief thought, 'If they kill
the merchants and find the treasure, they would do the same with me though I do
not have any treasure in my body. They will not believe me and certainly kill
me in hope of recovering some treasure. Anyways I die'.
The thief thought for a while and said, 'Chief, you believe
that we have the treasure in our bodies. It would not be fair to kill all of us
to find the treasure which the crow has told you about. I offer you to kill me
to affirm if any such treasure exists'.
The chief agreed with the thief and the tribesmen killed the
thief. They searched him but found no treasure. The chief was convinced that
the crow misunderstood and decided to let go the merchants.
Thus, due to the sacrifice made by the thief the merchants
saved their lives and the treasure.
Moral: It is better to have an intelligent enemy rather than
a foolish friend.
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