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5-Farmer's Wife

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5-Farmer's Wife

The Crocodile started the story :--

There lived a farmer and his wife in a town. As her husband was old, the woman was always thinking of other men and could never relax at home. The whole day she would wander about the town, looking for company. Once a crook robber noticed her and went up to her and said, "You are very lovely. My wife is dead and when I looked at you I fell in love with you. So please marry me."

She said - "O handsome, if you really love me, I am ready. My husband is very rich but he is very old, he can't even walk. So, we can steal his money, and run away together and enjoy life in another town."

"All right then," said the crook. "Meet me here tomorrow early morning and we'll go." The farmer's wife agreed and went home.

Next day early morning while her husband was fast asleep, the woman stole all his money, hurried to the place and met the crook. Then they set out on the journey towards the South. When they had covered quite some distance, they came to the bank of a river. When the crook saw river, he thought to himself, "If somebody follows her and catches us, then I am ruined. So let me take her money and leave her here."

So, he said to the woman, "It's difficult to cross this big river. I will go first with the money then come back and take you across on my back."

The woman was very happy to find this man so she did not know what he was saying. She just replied, "do that then", and she handed over all her money to him. Taking her money he said to her - "Give me your clothes too you are wearing, so that you can cross the river comfortably." The woman still did not guess his bad intentions and she handed him the her clothes also and off he went, taking everything with him. The woman waited for him on the bank of the river for long time.

Meanwhile, a female jackal arrived there holding a piece of meat in her mouth. Suddenly a fish also leaped out of water and fell on the bank of the river. When the female jackal saw this, she dropped her piece of meat and went to try to catch the fish but somehow the fish managed to slip back into water before she could reach her. So, the female jackal started to return to the place where she had dropped her piece of meat. But meanwhile a vulture swept down, picked up the piece of meat and flew away with it. So the female jackal sometimes looked at the vulture and sometimes at the water.

The woman was looking all this, she said to the female jackal with a smile, "The vulture took your piece of meat away and the fish has gone back into the river. Madam jackal, You have lost both of them, so what are you looking at?"

Now the female jackal had also seen what had happened between the woman and the crook and had understood that the woman had also lost both her husband and her lover, so, she replied, mockingly, "O Naked woman, You are twice as clever as I am, but you have also lost your lover as well as your husband, so what are you staring at?"

Now, while the crocodile was telling this story to the monkey, another water-dweller came up and told him, "A bigger crocodile has taken over your house."

When the crocodile heard this, he was very upset. He thought over ways and means of driving the other crocodile out. He said to himself, "Oh, look at me, how unfortunate I am. My friend has turned into my enemy, my wife has died and now my house has been occupied by someone else. What will happen to me next? It is so true what they say: "You get more cuts where there is already a wound and when the food is all gone, then you are more hungry for it. Your enemies multiply during your hard times, all this happens when fate is against you. Now what shall I do? Shall I fight this intruder or persuade him to move out peacefully? Or shall I bribe him or consult my friend, the monkey? For they say: "When a man begins a task, after consulting his elders and his friends, who wish him well, he will never face any hindrance."

So he spoke to the monkey, who in the meantime was up the Jamboo tree, "My dear friend, look at my bad luck, My house has been occupied by a much bigger crocodile, tell me, what shall I do? What tactics shall I adopt: peaceful negotiation, fighting, bribery or what?"

Monkey said - "O Ungrateful sinner, Why are you asking me now when I have already said no to you. I would not advise such a rascal like you."

The crocodile pleaded him - "Please O monkey, I know I have done you wrong but, for the sake of our old friendship, give me some advice."

Monkey said - "I will not give you any advice. You tried to drown me in the sea, just because your wife asked you to do so. I know that a wife is dear to all of us but you don't drown your friends just because your wife asks you to do so. You are doomed to ruin because you are too stupid to know good advice when you hear it, for they say:
"He who does not follow the good advice of virtuous people, is certainly destroyed as the camel, with a bell round his neck, was destroyed by the lion."

"How was that?" asked the crocodile.
And the monkey told him the "Story of the Camel With a Bell Around His Neck".

 

 

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Created by Sushma Gupta on August 9, 2007
Contact:  sushmajee@yahoo.com
Modified on 06/05/13