Two friends decided to go walking around the top of the mountain. Not many people had come to this place and the place had been untouched by humans for a long time.
At the top of the mountain, the two friends found a golden vase. Out of the two friends, one of them wanted to take the golden vase and share the proceeds after selling the vase equally between the two of them. The other wanted to cheat the friend with him and take the golden vase for himself.
So the wicked man looked around the golden vase and nodded at his friend. “I do not think this is made of real gold. It is only an illusion. I am sure that if we take it, it will vanish. We should probably leave it here.”
However the friend was not convinced that that was the right thing to do.
Finally, the two friends agreed to take the vase with them.
On getting down from the mountain they first reached the house of the wicked man who wanted to keep the vase for himself.
“The vase is heavy.” The wicked man told his friend. “I think you should leave it here for sometime. Go home now and when you return, we will be able to sell the vase, divide the money between us and use the money as we please.”
The friend agreed to this and returned to his home.
The friend came back to the wicked man's home after four days and he was shocked to see the wicked man looking distressed and devastated. “What happened?”
The wicked man sighed and shook his head as words failed him. Finally, the friend managed to calm the wicked man and ask him the reason for his misery. The wicked man sobbed out his story. “The golden vase which we found turned out to be made of pewter. I checked it with the people here and they told me this.”
The friend shook his head and easily overcame his unhappiness. “That does not matter. We did not pay anything for it, so we have lost nothing.”
The wicked man was happy that his friend had bought his lie so easily and stopped himself from gleefully smiling at his friend.
Adapted from Tibetan Folk Tales
No comments:
Post a Comment