Story of Greedy Wife
There was an old farmer who had a young
wife, who always had other men on her mind. She never attended to household
jobs. She was always looking for younger men to spend time. One day, a
trickster saw her and seeing that she was alone went to her and prayed, “O
beauty, I am a widower. The minute I saw you I lost my heart to you. Please
give me the pleasure of your company.”
Delighted, the woman told him, “O
handsome, my husband has a lot of wealth. He is old and of no use to me. I
will bring all the money and jewellery at home to you. Let us run away to a
far off place and live there happily ever after.”
The trickster was very happy and asked
her to bring all that money and gold to a place where he would be waiting
for her. “We will then leave the place quietly,” he told her.
The farmer’s wife waited till it was dark
and when her husband fell asleep stole all the money and gold, packed it in
a bag and left the house at dawn to meet the trickster at a place he had
indicated. The trickster took the bag full of money and gold from her on the
pretext that he would carry it and began their journey. After two miles,
they stopped because there was a river to cross.
The trickster thought, “What do I do with
a woman? If someone else were to set eyes on her, I have to protect her. It
is better I give her up but take the money with me.”
With these thoughts in mind he told the
woman, “Look, my dear, it is very difficult to cross the river. I will first
ferry the money bag to the other side of the river and keeping it there I
will come back and carry you on my back.”
She said, “Okay” and gave the bag to the
trickster. He asked her to give her clothes also because he said clothes
would hinder swimming. She gave away her clothes also. The trickster left
with the bag and her clothes.
Covering her naked body with her hands,
the woman began waiting restlessly for the trickster to return. Just then a
jackal with a piece of meat in his mouth happened to pass by. The jackal saw
a fish that had come out of water and in trying to get at it he dropped the
meat piece and ran towards it. But the fish, seeing the rushing jackal,
jumped back into water. Disappointed, the jackal went back to pick up the
piece of meat. But a kite dived down fast and took it away before the jackal
could reach it.
The woman laughed at the jackal that had
lost the fish and also the piece of meat. Hurt by the woman’s behaviour, the
jackal said, “You may be twice as intelligent as I am. But what is the use?
You have lost your husband, your lover and your wealth also.”
Moral of
the Story :
Consider that evil woman who has no character and who always quarrels with
you as a curse in the form of a wife. That man who wants to be happy should
not even take her name. He who loves a woman of vice perishes like a moth
kissing fire. |