The Miserly Father
(Najamuddin Ghanghro, Karachi (Original from Larkana))
Swabhavakripan was a Brahmin
living in a city in the south. He was known for his miserliness. Every day, he
would go out begging and save some corn flour people gave him as alms. He stored
such flour in an earthen pot and when it was full he hung the pot to a peg above
his bed so that he could keep an eye on it.
He returned home one day very tired and went to sleep and began dreaming: “This
pot is full of flour and if there is a famine it would fetch me a very high
price. With that money, I will buy two she goats that in course of time will
become a big herd. I will sell them for a huge profit and buy cows with that
money. Then I will buy buffaloes and later horses. And, when the stables are
full of horses I will sell them and buy lots of gold.”
“With this gold, I will build a huge house with four floors. Seeing my riches
one Brahmin will offer the hand of his beautiful daughter to me. She will soon
deliver a son and I will name him Soma Sarma. When he is a year old, I will go
and hide in the stable and call out to him to find me out. But the son drifts
dangerously towards the horses. I shout at my wife to come and take him away.
Busy with domestic chores she ignores my call. Then I shall kick her.”
The dream shattered when he kicked the pot of flour hanging from the peg and
spilled all its contents over his body. He now looked like a white ghost.
Chakradhara resumed, “That is why, I said:
“He who covets the impossible Or builds castles in the air Comes to certain
grief like Poor Soma Sarma’s father.”
“I don’t see anything in this to blame you,” said Suvarnasiddhi. “Every one
becomes a slave to greed. As the learned have said,
“He who is overwhelmed by greed And doesn’t weigh its consequences, Will become
a victim of deceit
Like King Chandra in this story.”