Once there lived a rich and prosperous king. The king was very fond of traveling. He often went to neighboring and even traveled to far off countries. The king had no liking for his own country.
One day the king asked his men to assemble. He briefed them about his plan to travel to a far off country. The men made the necessary arrangements for the long journey. Next day the king led his men for the long journey. On their way, they passed through a forest.
It was a dense and peaceful forest. Since the procession had been travelling since morning, the king ordered his men to camp in the forest near a lake.
The men camped. They cooked, ate and rested. They fed their horses with peas and took them to the lakeside for drinking water.
There was a large mango tree near the lakeside. A large group of monkeys lived on the tree. It was noon time and all the monkeys were sleeping except a naughty little she-monkey. The little monkey was very naughty. She watched as the horse riders feed peas to their horses. The peas appeared tempting and the little monkey wanted to eat them.
When the horse keeper left the animal alone, she immediately came down down the tree trunk, and ran towards the horse. The horse stepped back in fear and the little monkey gobbled the peas as much as she could. Then she stuffed her hands with peas greedily and ran back to the tree.
As the little monkey climbed the tree, one of the peas fell on the ground. The ground was densely bushy. The little monkey desperately began looking for the lost pea and before she realized, all the peas she had in her hand had slipped out slowly. The little monkey had now lost all the peas she had. She was empty handed and very sad. She climbed up the tree and stared long thoughtfully - 'because f one pea, I lost all the peas I had'.
The king had been watching the little monkey all the while he had been resting was enlightened. He thought to himself, "This little monkey acted stupidly. But she has taught me a lesson - to gain little, one should not loose bigger. I should not loose the merit of my country and its subjects for sake of foreign land!"
The king came out of the camp and told his men, "There is no land bigger than one's own country. After resting, we shall began our journey back to home".
Moral: One must value the things one has in hand.
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