“In a certain village, there lived a Brahmin, by the name of Swabhavakripana. He used to live by begging. Whenever he got wheat flour, he would eat a small portion of it and collect what was left in a pot which he had hung up on a peg, at the foot of his bed and used to stare at the pot, while he was going off to sleep.
One night, he was staring at the pot, when he thought to himself, ‘This pot is now completely full of wheat flour. If famine comes, I shall be able to make quite a bit of money out of it. Then, I can buy two goats. Now, goats bear kids every six months, so, in due course, I shall have a vast flock of goats. When there are enough, I’ll sell them and buy cows. By selling the cows, I shall buy buffaloes, and by selling the buffaloes, I shall buy mares and they will bear me many horses. When I sell the horses, I shall have a lot of gold. With this money, I shall buy a house with four storeys. Then some Brahmin will come and offer me his beautiful young daughter. I shall marry her and she will bear me a son, and I shall call him Soma Sharma. When he is old enough to crawl, I shall take a book to the stable and read. Soma Sharma will get off his mother’s lap and crawl after me, beside the horses’ hoofs. I’ll shout to his mother, ‘Hey! Come and take this child away!’ She being busy with the household chores, won’t take any notice. I shall get angry, get up, go across to her and give her a kick.’
With this day dreaming, he gave such a kick to his flour pot that it smashed and the wheat flour came flowing down, enveloping him in white.
“And so,” continued Chakradhara, “When a man hankers after things, That are impossible to achieve, Or may never happen, He comes to grief, Like Soma Sharma’s father.”
“Well, actually, you are not to be blamed for what has happened,” said Suvaranasiddhi. “When someone gets entangled in greed, he has to pay for it. It’s true what they say: ‘A man who, overcome with greed, Does not think about the consequences, Will be put to scorn like King Chandra.’
“How was that?” asked Chakradhara.
And Suvaranasiddhi told: THE STORY OF KING CHANDRA
