The astrologer fulfils his prophecies

When a young man’s parents died they left him a very large amount of money. He became very rich and didn’t have to work at all. Instead of working, he used to enjoy all kinds of hobbies. One day he would become interested in music. The next day he would want to become a great tennis player. And the day after he would want to be something else. Each day he wanted to become something else. But because he couldn’t stick to anything, he was not becoming anything at all. In this way he wallowed in the pleasures of wealth and wasted lots of money. But he didn’t have to worry at all because he still had plenty of money left.

One day he started casting horoscopes and telling people what would happen in the future. Nobody took him seriously because astrology was only another hobby for him, but everybody liked to hear what he had to say. As long as he didn’t create any problems, nobody minded.

One day his uncle came to visit him, looking very sad. The young man asked his uncle, “Why are you so sad?”

His uncle said, “I am sad because I don’t have money. I am in tremendous financial difficulty.”

The young man said, “Let me take a look at your horoscope. Let us see what the future holds for you.”

When the astrologer looked at his uncle’s horoscope he said, “I see that in a month’s time, by a stroke of luck, you will get lots of money.”

The uncle said, “Oh, you are so kind. Are you sure?”

The rich young man said, “Your horoscope clearly indicates that you will. I can see it. I know your financial difficulties will definitely be over in a month’s time.”

The uncle was very, very happy to hear that he would get some money. Every day the uncle expected to get a large sum of money, but nothing happened.

On the last day of the month the uncle happened to be passing by his nephew’s house. His nephew was in front of his house and the uncle said to him, “A month has passed and it seems that I am not going to get any money. Why do you have to fool people in this way? For God’s sake, give up this astrology business. You were not meant to be an astrologer.”

The young man said, “Uncle, I told you to wait for one month. The month is not yet over.”

The uncle said, “You are so stupid! Today is the last day. Who is going to give me the money? No one! Either you are a fool or you are a liar. You know nothing about astrology!”

The young man said, “I do know about astrology. And I do know that you will get a large amount of money. Still the day has not passed.”

Then the so-called astrologer went into another room and came back with a large amount of money. He handed it to his uncle and said, “Look, my prophecy is correct.”

The uncle said, “Oh, yes! Your prophecy has come true. I am so grateful to you, so grateful to you.”

At that moment a schoolteacher happened to be passing by. The schoolteacher didn’t see the nephew giving his uncle money. He only overheard the uncle appreciating his astrologer-nephew because his prophecy had come true.

Now for some time the teacher had been thinking of going to this astrologer to have his daughter’s horoscope cast. So the teacher approached the young man and said, “I am in such trouble. It is now time for my daughter’s marriage. Can you tell me if there is a chance for her to get a good husband? I would like my daughter to marry a well-educated, rich person so that she won’t have to worry and I won’t have to worry about her future.”

The young man looked at the daughter’s horoscope and said, “In two months’ time you will find a good, rich husband for your daughter. From her horoscope I can see that she is a very nice girl. You will definitely get a rich person to marry her.”

The teacher was very excited and started all kinds of preparations for his daughter’s wedding. He even hired a special cook and servants for the ceremony. Meanwhile, the days were passing by, and still he was not getting any suitable husband for his daughter. But he had such faith in the young astrologer that he still thought that something would happen.

Finally, when the two months were almost up, the man went back to the astrologer and said, “Are you sure that my daughter will be married? I have spent so much money for the preparations. I have arranged for a priest and hired extra servants. So much jewellery we have got for my daughter for her wedding. But still I am not getting a rich person for a bridegroom. What will happen if your prophecy does not come true?”

The astrologer said, “Why do you have to worry? In this village is there anybody who is richer than I am? And do you not think I am handsome? Do you not think I am well-educated?”

The teacher said, “You? How can I expect you to marry my daughter?”

The astrologer said, “Why not?”

The teacher said, “Since you are the richest person and you are also very handsome and kind-hearted, will you marry my daughter?”

The young man said, “Of course, of course! You don’t have to worry. Tomorrow we shall get married, since you are fully prepared.”

So the astrologer married the teacher’s daughter, and in this way he kept his promise and made his prophecy perfect.

Now, the wife was very smart. She had heard how her husband had given money to his uncle because his prophecy was not coming true. And she knew that he had to marry her in order to make his prophecy come true. So she said, “I won’t allow you to continue with this occupation. Since you have so much money, you don’t have to work. But you do have to give up casting horoscopes because you don’t know anything about astrology. If you really love me, then you have to give it up.

“You are the richest person in the village, the zamindar. You have so many servants. If occasionally you go to the fields to supervise, then our servants will do a better job and we will have a bumper crop. This can be your job.”

So every day the young man would spend a few hours looking after the fields. The workers were very happy that he was showing such an interest in their work.

About three months later his uncle came again to him and said, “Nephew, again I am in need of money. Can you cast my horoscope and see if there is any hope for me to get some money?” The uncle was hoping that his nephew would again give him money to fulfil his own prophecy.

The young man said, “Sorry, sorry, sorry. I have given up casting horoscopes. My wife said I was no good in astrology, so I had to give it up.”

The court poet and the king

There was a court poet who used to write very nice verses. During the day he was a good man, but at night he used to drink like anything. One night the king left his palace and went to see his court poet. Very often the king used to visit his subjects at night. On this occasion, as usual, the poet was quite drunk. He did not even stand up when he saw the king.

The king’s assistants told him, “O King, what can you expect? He is drunk.”

But the king was mad at the poet’s lack of respect. He said to the poet, “In my kingdom I have three categories of people. One is the commander-type. Another is the slave or donkey-type. And the third is in the fool category. To which category do you belong?”

The poet said to the king in a very commanding voice, “Sit down!”

“What!” shouted the king. “Nobody speaks to the king like that!”

“I want to be the commander-type,” said the poet. “That’s why I told you to sit down.”

The king said, “Come to the palace in the morning. Tomorrow I hope you will be all right.”

The next day the poet went to the palace. By now he was sober. As usual, the poet composed a poem. That day’s poem was very nice, and everybody was appreciating it, except the king. The king was still sad and miserable that he had been insulted by the poet.

The king said to the poet, “Yesterday you insulted me like anything. I am still angry and I want to punish you. I want you to wear a donkey skin with a donkey’s head and shoes. From top to bottom I want you to dress like a donkey — because you are an ass.”

The poet said, “Fine.” So the king’s assistants gave the poet a donkey uniform and began parading him around the kingdom.

People were surprised and they asked the poet, “What is the matter with you?”

The poet was a rogue. He answered, “Today I composed a most beautiful poem for the king and he was very pleased with me. When the king saw that I had given him the best thing that I had, he also wanted to give me the best thing that he had. So he gave me all the things that I am wearing. These are the things that the king treasures most, just as I treasure my poems.”

The escaped convict

One night a middle-aged woman was cooking in her kitchen. All of a sudden, somebody started banging on her door and crying, “Save me, save me!”

The lady opened the door and asked, “What’s the matter?”

The man said, “Two policemen are chasing me.” Then he forced his way into the house. He said, “If it looks as if I am going to be caught, just before I am arrested I will strangle you.”

The lady said, “Don’t worry; I will help you.” So the lady didn’t open the door when the policemen came, and they didn’t know the man was inside the house. After half an hour the lady went out of the house to see if the policemen were still there and she didn’t see anyone. Still, the man was afraid that the police would find him.

Some time passed and the lady offered the man something to eat. While he was eating the man said, “I have escaped from jail. People were very unkind to me in the prison. But now that I am out of jail, the police are after me and I will have no peace. I don’t know what I am going to do.”

The lady said, “Well, you have to know what is best for yourself. But I will tell you something absolutely true. My brother…”

Then the lady started crying.

“What about your brother?” asked the man.

The lady continued, “Many years ago my brother got angry with his best friend. He kicked his friend so hard that his friend had a heart attack and died. My brother didn’t kill his friend intentionally, but he was arrested. While he was in jail he was always thinking that he would be the happiest person when he was finally freed. After fourteen years my brother was released.”

“Where is your brother now?” asked the man.

The lady said, “My brother stayed here for three months, but during that time he didn’t have any peace. He was always afraid that again he would do something wrong and be returned to jail. He was afraid that he would do something wrong by accident. That kind of fear entered into his mind.”

The lady turned to her guest and said, “I hope you will not have that kind of fear. Perhaps you too will be haunted by the thought that the police will always be after you.”

Then the lady started crying again. “What happened?” asked the man.

“One day,” said the woman, “he committed suicide by jumping off the second floor of our house.” And the woman started crying again.

The man was horrified.

“Before he died, my brother said it would have been far better for him to have remained in jail. He would have had more peace in prison. I really don’t want this kind of thing to happen in your life.”

The man said, “I don’t want to have the same problem!”

He was so shocked and afraid that he would have the same fate that he ran out of the house and went back to the jail on his own.

The superintendent had sent many policemen out looking for the escaped convict, but the search had been all in vain. The superintendent was so happy that the man had come back on his own.

The superintendent happened to be the father of the woman who had inspired the convict to turn himself in. When he came home, he told his daughter what had happened. He said, “So you see, my daughter, in this world there are still nice people. You always say that we don’t treat people well. But now somebody has come back on his own. He was telling us that he will have better rest and peace with us. So never say that we torture people in our jail. Here is the proof that we treat the inmates well.”

The daughter said, “Father, you know that I don’t have a brother. I am your only child.”

“Of course,” said the superintendent.

“To make that culprit go back to your jail,” the daughter said, “I had to invent a brother. Not only that, I had to make my brother a murderer who was arrested and thrown in jail. I had to say that when he came out of jail, he was haunted by the thought that the police would again arrest him. Then I made him commit suicide. Now he is dead.”

The father said, “What are you talking about?”

The daughter told her father the whole story. Then she said, “When I told that story, the thief ran back to the jail because he didn’t want to have that kind of miserable life. You always brag that you treat the prisoners so well, but I had to play all kinds of tricks to get that man to go back. It was only out of utter fear that he went back.”

The strict village head

A head of a particular village was very nice and, at the same time, very strict. He would not allow anyone to be idle in his village. He said, “Idleness is a very serious crime. If anybody is idle, then that person will be punished.”

The village head was especially strict with the members of his own family. Early in the morning, at five o’clock, his wife and children had to get up to pray and meditate. Then they had to start working. If they did not get up on time, he would have his servants insult them badly. He himself also used to scold them and punish them in various ways. The villagers all loved the village head dearly because they knew that it was for their own good that he was so strict. The neighbouring villages also used to appreciate him. They especially admired the villagers’ dynamic qualities. This particular village was superior to the other villages in every way and everyone gave all the credit to the head of the village.

Every month the village head used to give a special talk about the village activities. He would say that what the villagers were doing was absolutely necessary for them to make progress and please God in His own Way. Everybody admired him and was fond of him.

One very cold winter evening he gave a very excellent talk. Afterwards, many villagers gave him gifts. Although he was very rich, they gave him gifts as tokens of their appreciation and admiration. They started throwing warm winter garments at him because they felt he might need them. Some were their own coats and shawls and some were presents. The poor man was suddenly buried under all the clothes. Then all the people in the audience started pushing towards him so that they could express their gratitude to him. Suddenly the crowd fell on the village head, and he suffocated to death.

All of the villagers were so shocked when they found out what had happened. Then the son of the village head took up the challenge. He said, “Now I will follow in the footsteps of my father. Like my father, I will also be very strict with the villagers. But I will also be very careful, especially if they ever throw gifts at me.”

The villagers were very sad that they had killed the village head and happy that his son had forgiven them and would take over his father’s job. The son told them, “You meant well. It was not that you wanted to kill him. You did this out of admiration.”

The grammar lesson

One day there was a hurricane in a small Indian village. Many students could not come to school because of the rain and wind. Very few students were present. The English teacher said to one of the students, “It is raining so heavily. How did you manage to come?”

The student said, “I came in a taxi.”

The teacher said, “Your parents are rich and you are a good student. I appreciate your parents.”

She asked another student and he said, “I came on my bicycle.”

The teacher said, “You are very brave.”

Then she asked a third boy, “How did you come?”

This boy didn’t know English grammar very well. He always repeated what others said because he was afraid of his own grammar. In this case, he wanted to follow the previous student’s way of speaking, only changing it a little. So he said, “I came on my train.”

Everybody started laughing and the boy was very sad. He said, “What is wrong? The teacher asked me and I said I came on my train. If your grammar was correct, why is mine wrong?”

The teacher said, “You can say, ‘I came in a taxi’ or ‘I came on my bicycle’. But you can’t say, ‘I came on my train’. You have to say, ‘I came by train’ or ‘I came on the train’. If somebody walks to school, one does not say, ‘I came on my feet’. One says, ‘I came by foot’. You are using your feet, but you can’t say, ‘I came by my feet’ or ‘I came on my feet’. You say, ‘I came by foot’. English grammar may seem peculiar and ridiculous, but you have to learn it. You must say, ‘I came by train’, ‘I came by car’, ‘I came by taxi’, or ‘I came in a taxi’. Don’t say, ‘I came by a taxi’ or ‘I came by the car’ or ‘by the taxi’.”

The teacher continued, “You are children. Therefore you have to learn English grammar, although it can seem peculiar at times. If you are learning English, you have to learn the grammar and usage of the language and you have to learn it the way it is spoken.”

The dowry

A well-to-do man had two daughters. The man was very kind and affectionate to his daughters and both of them were very nice and very beautiful. The older one was extremely beautiful and she also knew how to sing and dance. In the Indian system we have something called a dowry, which is money that the bride’s family has to give to the bridegroom. In India, nobody will take someone’s daughter without a dowry. The young men are so proud. They will say, “Unless you give a dowry, I don’t need your daughter.”

When the time came for the older daughter to get married, the father gave ten thousand rupees to his future son-in-law. The young man took the money and he was quite happy. Since his father-in-law had given him so much money, he thought that he would not have to work for several years. The young man started leading a vagabond life, and everybody started saying nasty things about him.

The elder daughter was miserable and blamed her father for giving her husband so much money. Previously her husband had worked in a bank, but once he got the dowry he stopped working. The wife felt he should have kept at least some of the dowry in the bank to earn interest. But the husband was such a fool. He wanted to show off. So he resigned from the bank and tried to make the bank manager feel that he was richer than he was. He was spending money like anything and making everybody feel he was so rich that he didn’t have to work.

In a few months’ time he squandered all the money. Then again he had to go back to work at the bank as a clerk. The wife was happy that at least he was working and leading a modest life.

Several years passed by and the time came for the younger sister to get married. This time the father gave his future son-in-law fifteen thousand rupees. After the marriage took place, the daughter moved to her husband’s house, and they were living happily together.

The husband of the elder daughter had a few bad friends. They said to him, “Shame, shame, shame! Look, you are a third class son-in-law. You got only ten thousand rupees, whereas the fellow who married your sister-in-law got fifteen thousand. You are a useless fool. That is why you got only ten thousand rupees.”

The husband said, “If I am an idiot, then my father-in-law is a rogue. In what way am I inferior to my brother-in-law?” He got furious and insulted his father-in-law. He said, “You are such a rogue! Do you think I am inferior to your second son-in-law? I am working in a bank. I am a well-educated person. You deceived me. Who wants your daughter? I don’t need her. Unless you immediately give me five thousand rupees more, I will throw your daughter out of my house like a filthy rag.”

The father-in-law said, “It is too late. I won’t give you even one more rupee!”

The husband said, “Then I will sue you for having deceived me.”

The first daughter was miserable that her husband was suing her father, but what could she do? Finally the judge handed down his decision. He said to the husband, “Yes, you have a good case. Fifteen years ago you got only ten thousand rupees and now the second son-in-law has got fifteen thousand rupees. My decision is that your father-in-law shall give you five thousand rupees — but only on the condition that you give him the interest the ten thousand rupees would have earned, starting from the day of your wedding.”

The husband looked at the judge with eyes and mouth wide open. The judge said, “I am telling you to look at the goddess Lakshmi with your eyes and to keep your mouth shut. Since you are looking up with your eyes wide open, the goddess of wealth is descending. And since your mouth is wide open, I am telling you to keep it shut.”

The haunted house

There was once an old man whose daughter had grown up and he wanted to find her a husband. Since he didn’t have enough money for a proper dowry, he went to the village moneylender. The moneylender was a real rogue. Whenever somebody was in serious difficulty, he would always raise the interest. In this case he asked the old man to pay a very high interest rate.

The old man said, “Already I am in serious trouble, since my daughter is unmarried. What will society say if I keep a mature girl home without letting her marry? That is why I need the money. Can you not at least ask for the regular interest?”

The moneylender said, “No, no, no! For each person I have a different rate of interest.”

So the old man said, “All right, then I can do only one thing. I have an old house that my grandfather left for me. Now I am living in a smaller house. I was planning to keep my grandfather’s house so that when my daughter got married, she and her husband could go and live there. But now, since I am unable to get money, I will sell the house.”

Again the moneylender proved himself to be a rogue. When the old man put an advertisement in the newspaper telling people that he was going to sell his house, the moneylender spread the gossip everywhere that it was a haunted house. He warned people, “Don’t buy it, don’t buy it!”

The villagers liked the house. It was big and in good condition. Unlike the moneylender, the old man was not asking for an exorbitant amount of money. He was asking for only fifty thousand rupees, which was almost nothing, since it was a very big house. But people wouldn’t go near the house because they all thought that it was haunted.

One day a rich man came to this particular village. The moneylender was hoping this rich man would ask him for money, because he knew he would be able to charge a very high rate of interest. The rich man did not need money from the moneylender, but still the moneylender was talking to him, saying how nice the village was and other things.

The rich man said to the moneylender, “I see in your village a very big house for sale. I am going to buy this house, even if the owner asks for one hundred thousand rupees. Then I will turn it into a factory and make lots of profit. I won’t buy it now, but next time I come I will bring my assistant and negotiate to buy it.”

The moneylender said, “Yes, yes, it is a nice house. You should try to buy it. Are you definitely willing to spend one hundred thousand rupees?”

“Yes,” said the rich man. “I am definitely willing to buy it for that price.”

The moneylender said, “It is a fine idea. Good luck.”

As soon as the rich man left the village, the moneylender went to the old man and said, “I understand that you want to sell your house. People are saying that it is a haunted house, but they are fools. How much are you asking for the house?”

The old man said, “I am asking fifty thousand rupees.”

The moneylender said, “Since people are saying all kinds of things about the house, can you not give it to me for twenty-five thousand rupees?”

The old man said, “No, fifty thousand rupees is the price. I won’t take one rupee more or one rupee less. I will sell it to whoever wants to buy it, but that is the price. I am a sincere man, and someday people will realise this. Now they are saying that it is a haunted house, but someday they will see that it is a very good house.”

The moneylender said, “I believe you, I believe you. It is not a haunted house. But won’t you give it to me for twenty-five thousand rupees?”

The old man said, “No, I won’t give it to you for less than fifty thousand rupees.” The old man knew that it was the moneylender who had been spreading the rumours, but he didn’t tell him.

Finally the moneylender said rudely, “Then take this fifty thousand rupees! Now it is my house!

The servant of the old man overheard the conversation and was very happy that the moneylender had finally bought the house. The servant said, “Since this moneylender has given such a hard time to my master, let me make some trouble for him.”

The servant secretly followed the moneylender back to his house. There he heard the moneylender tell his assistant, “Look, I have bought this house for fifty thousand rupees. Now I am going to tell the rich man from the neighbouring village that he should come and buy it.”

Then the old man’s servant went to the rich man’s house in the neighbouring village and said to the rich man, “I tell you, that is a haunted house. Everybody knows it. Don’t be a fool. Don’t buy that house.”

When the moneylender went to the rich man and offered to sell the house to him, he said, “You wanted to buy it for a hundred thousand rupees, but I am ready to lower the price a little. I can give it to you for a lower price.”

The rich man said, “No thank you! I have heard that it is a haunted house. I have heard this from someone who is very reliable, very sincere, very honest and very simple. I am not going to buy a haunted house — never, never!”

The Master answers the disciple's question

There was once a spiritual Master who had quite a few disciples. People often used to give him money, property and so forth. The Master was very nice and honest, and he would give the money to one of his rich disciples to save it for him. When he had accumulated a large amount, the Master was planning to open up a hospital for the sick and elderly that would be free of charge.

One day somebody gave the Master a very large amount of money. The Master wanted to give the money to the rich disciple who was saving it for him, but the disciple was sick and he could not come to the Master’s house. The Master said, “Let me go to his house and give him the money. I want him to keep it.”

The Master asked one of his disciples to put the money inside a bag and then carry it while they went to the rich disciple’s house.

The disciple said, “Master, something has been bothering me for a long time.”

The Master asked, “What is it?”

The disciple said, “In the battle of Kurukshetra the Pandavas won. Many people think that it was because of Sri Krishna that Arjuna won. I don’t agree. I think that even without Sri Krishna Arjuna could have won. Please tell me who is right? Am I right or are my friends right?”

The Master said, “Today I am not in the mood to answer that question. It is a very serious and complicated question, a very good question, but some other day I will answer it. Now let us go to my disciple’s house.”

The Master and the disciple were walking and walking. After some time they came to a forest that they had to pass through to get to the other disciple’s home. By now it was getting dark. The Master said, “Who knows what will happen? Find a big stick in case we are attacked by animals or hooligans!”

The disciple found a very thick stick which he started carrying in case anything happened. O God, in fifteen minutes’ time they were attacked by a hooligan with a gun. He said to the disciple, “Where are you going? Just drop the bag at my feet.”

The disciple was trembling, but the Master was not afraid. The Master turned to the hooligan and said, “I am saving this money because I want to open up a hospital. Do you not think it is a good cause? Will you excuse us and not take our money?”

The hooligan laughed and laughed. He said, “You fool, you fool! How can a fool like you have so much money? Don’t waste my time. Just drop it at my feet and then go away. I will not kill you. You two are fools.”

The disciple was still trembling and trembling. The Master said, “All right, then put it at his feet. What can we do?”

Then the Master said to the hooligan, “Tomorrow I will not be able to show my face. My disciple will tell the world that I surrendered to you because I don’t have any spiritual power or occult power. True, I don’t have occult power, but still it will be a terrible disgrace for me. Please do me a favour. Just kill me with your gun. Then the world will think that I just happened to be killed because I came into this dangerous forest. It is better to be killed by you than to have to show a humiliated face to my disciples tomorrow.”

Again the hooligan laughed and laughed. “I have a gun, true,” he said, “but inside the gun there is no bullet.”

Then the Master shouted to the disciple, “Use your stick!” Both the Master and disciple beat the hooligan mercilessly. Then they continued on with the money to the rich disciple’s house.

The Master said, “Now you see! Who was needed more in the battlefield — Arjuna or Krishna? You were Arjuna; you had the stick. I was Krishna; I was the one who played the trick on the hooligan. Now look how we escaped!”

The disciple said, “O Master, now I see that Krishna was needed to give wisdom to Arjuna. It was you who asked me to find the stick, and it was you who afterwards played the trick on the hooligan. You warned me and then you played a trick. Now I know that Krishna played all kinds of tricks to save Arjuna in the battle.”

The beggar's trick

There was a beggar who was very kind and, at the same time, very wise. He used to beg and, again, he used to help other beggars and old people. But sometimes, when people were nasty, he would play tricks on them and deceive them.

One evening he stopped in front of a small shop and picked up an Indian rupee that was lying on the street. The owner saw him and shouted, “You! That coin was mine, mine! I dropped it there.”

Some other people said, “No, no, you are such a rich man. How can you say that coin was yours?”

The shopkeeper started shouting at the beggar, “You have to give me the money. Otherwise, I will have you arrested.”

The beggar said, “Can you not be nice to me? I am a beggar, whereas you are a rich man. Can you not at least give me half? I picked it up and you say it is yours. Since I didn’t see you drop it, I am not sure whether it is yours or not. And even if it was yours, you lost it. Since it is now evening, you would have closed your shop and gone home. Before you returned in the morning, someone else would have found it and taken it. You would not have got anything. So please give me at least fifty paisa.”

The rich man said, “All right, take it,” and handed the beggar fifty paisa. The beggar gave him the rupee and left.

The next day, very early in the morning, the shopkeeper saw his wife searching for something in front of the shop. He asked her, “What are you doing?”

She said, “Oh, I am just looking for something.”

He said, “I know, I know, you fool! You are so careless. You lost a rupee.”

The wife said, “That is right. How did you know?”

He said, “Yesterday a beggar found it. I gave him fifty paisa and took the rupee back. I left it in the shop. You take it. It is yours.”

The wife was very happy and ran to get the rupee. But when she picked it up, she saw that it was counterfeit. She said, “What is this?”

The husband said, “What has the beggar done? What has he done?”

What had happened was that the beggar had found the real coin that the shopkeeper’s wife had lost. But because the shopkeeper was so nasty to him, and because he had heard from others that the shopkeeper was deceiving people and cheating them in so many ways, the beggar played a trick on the shopkeeper. He kept the rupee that the wife had actually dropped and gave the owner a counterfeit coin.

When the shopkeeper discovered what the beggar had done, he cursed the beggar. But the beggar had really given him a good lesson. Because he was an unkind shopkeeper, he got this kind of treatment.

The coat and the donkey

There was once a very clever man whose wife was very stupid but had a very, very good heart. One evening, when the husband was not at home, the wife was working in front of the house. She had a fire burning so that she could see what she was doing.

It was very cold that night, and someone approached her and asked if he could stand by the fire to warm up. The man was shivering, so she said, “All right. You stand here.” Then she asked him, “Where do you come from?”

He said, “I come from Heaven.”

She said, “You come from Heaven? Oh, have you any news about my father?”

He said, “Yes, yes, your father and I are roommates. I know him very, very well.”

She said, “What is my father’s name?”

The rogue lived near her village, so he knew her father’s name. When he said the name, the woman was so delighted.

She said, “Oh, yes, yes! That is right. How is my father?”

The man said, “Your father is fine, but in Heaven it is also very, very cold. What he needs is a good, thick coat.”

She said, “He needs a thick coat? What can I do? Are you planning to go back to Heaven?”

He said, “Yes, tonight I am going back to Heaven.”

She said, “Can you do me a favour?”

The man said, “Certainly.”

The woman went into her house and brought out her husband’s brand new, very beautiful, warm coat and gave it to the man. “Please, please, take this and give it to my father,” she said.

He said, “Of course, I will give it to your father. He will be so grateful to you and so proud that you still care for him.”

She said, “Oh, my father was so affectionate to me. This much I can do for him. And my husband also liked my father very much. So there will be no problem.”

So the man went away with the coat. Soon the husband came home. His wife was so excited. She said, “Look, look, I have done something very great today.”

He said, “What have you done?”

She said, “Somebody who came from Heaven told me that my father is suffering from the cold there. When I heard it, I felt very sorry for my father. So I gave him your new coat. My father loved you so much and you also loved him. So I thought you wouldn’t mind.”

The husband became very pale. Then he started walking out of the house. The wife said, “You are not going to leave me!”

The husband was so mad. He said, “I am not going to leave you? I have already left you! You are a fool! I am going away and I will not come back unless and until I have found a greater fool than you.”

The wife started crying and crying. Then she started praying to God, “O God, I have lost my husband. Please let him find a greater fool than I. I don’t think I am really a fool. I am a sincere person with a good heart. But my husband does not trust my good heart; he thinks I am a fool. Only my father in Heaven can appreciate me. He had a big heart and I inherited his big heart.”

Meanwhile, the husband set out in search of the rogue who had stolen his coat. He was walking very, very fast, hoping to catch him. After some time, all of a sudden he saw someone a few metres ahead of him wearing his coat. He said, “Ah, now let me see what I can do.”

He followed the man secretly and watched him enter into a small house. The man left the coat there and then went away. Then the husband approached the house. In front of the house was a donkey. The husband began looking at the donkey with tremendous devotion and bowing down to it.

The lady of the house came out and said to him, “What are you doing? Why are you bowing down again and again to the donkey?”

He said, “Only a few months ago I lost my brother-in-law. He had been very, very kind to me and I had been kind to him. My brother-in-law’s face looked exactly like your donkey’s. That is why I was so moved by the donkey and why I am showing it all my affection. I am talking to him by nodding, since I don’t know donkey language.

“Will you do me a favour? Will you allow me to take this donkey to my house just for tonight? I want to show it to my wife, since she was so fond of her brother. She misses him like anything and every day sheds bitter tears over him. If I could show her this donkey, she would be able to see her brother’s face. Perhaps the face of this donkey can give her some consolation.”

The lady said, “All right, take it. But tomorrow morning please bring it back.”

The man said, “Definitely, definitely I will return it tomorrow.”

Then quite unexpectedly the woman said, “This donkey is our favourite animal. It is very cold out tonight, so let me put my husband’s coat on it to keep it warm.” Then she brought out the coat and put it on the donkey.

The lady said, “Tomorrow, when you bring the donkey back, please don’t forget to bring the coat. Otherwise, my husband will be mad. Just a little while ago he came in and told me that it was a very good coat that he had bought for a very cheap price. My husband will be very mad if he loses it. So please bring it back.”

The man said, “Definitely I will bring it back. When I return the donkey, I will bring back the coat also.”

So the man took the donkey and the coat. After covering only a short distance he freed the donkey and went away with his coat. The donkey went back to its owner’s house and started braying in the street. When the owner came back, he said to his wife, “What is the donkey doing in the street?”

The wife said, “You don’t know what happened! Somebody came here who was miserable because he lost his brother-in-law. The brother-in-law looked exactly like this donkey.” Then she told him the whole story. Finally she said, “But look at this rogue! He has not brought back the coat!”

The husband said, “What coat?”

She said, “Since it was cold, I gave him your new coat for the donkey to wear. He promised that he would bring back both the donkey and the coat tomorrow morning. He has returned the donkey, but he has taken away the coat.”

The man was furious, but what could he do?

So the first man succeeded in finding a greater fool than his own wife. Even if the woman had not given him the coat he would have accomplished what he had set out to do. He could have taken the donkey and sold it, and with the money he could have bought another coat. But quite unexpectedly the lady gave him the coat, so he didn’t even have to go to the trouble of selling the donkey. He just left it and went away with his own coat.

Editor's preface to the first edition

The tales in this book, part of a collection that Sri Chinmoy has adapted from traditional Indian stories, have an innocent and childlike quality that appeals to the child in all of us. The stories have been performed as plays by Sri Chinmoy’s students.