Three Friends and A Bag Of Gold
(Evil recoils the head of the doer)
Friendship is a sacred bond of a relationship. It is renderer than a flower and sweeter than
the rose’s scent. It demands loyalty, devotion, sincerity, and sacrifice. So slight selfishness is enough to cause its death as in the following story.
Once
there were three young bosom friends who lived in a certain village. They were very
healthy, and hardworking but due to a stroke of ill luck, they were very poor
and hence had to starve very often. They had heard the old maxim that “Change
in place often brings about a change in luck.” So, they decided to go
to a big city to try the saying as well as their luck.
One
first morning, they set out on a journey with the hope of better prospects.
They had promised to be true and helpful to one another through thick and thin.
Their minds were full of high ideas of a vivid future. They hoped to be prosperous,
wealthy, and reputable. The first few days passed in happiness. They covered
distance after distance.
One
day, when they were passing through a thick jungle, they saw an old dusty cloth
bag lying under a tree. They opened it and found it full of gold coins. They
were beside themselves with joy. They determined to divide the golden coins
equally among themselves. Ostensibly, they posed to be true to others but
secretly, they were selfish and stingy. Before dividing the coins, they wanted
to have their dinner.
So,
they sent one of them to the neighboring village to fetch some food. Greed
entered his head. He thought: “One-third of all the golden coins will make
a very scanty amount. Why should I not get all the golden coins myself,” he
said to himself and determined to kill the other two. He forgot “Covetousness
brings nothing home.”
Therefore,
he bought some poison, mixed it into the food, and came back with sweet dreams
of a bright future. The other two were also very stingy and greedy. They decided
to have all the money between themselves after getting rid of the third. Their
condition was: “When the heart is full of lust, the mouth is full of leasing.”
As
the third fellow came back, they blamed him for coming late, fell upon him, and dispatched
him away. As they were starving, they began to devour the food
greedily.
No
sooner did they eat the poisoned food than they became senseless and at last joined
the majority.
The
gold coins remained to lie there undivided.