The Bhrahmin And The Diamonds
Once upon a time there lived a clever Bhrahmin in a village. He performed poojas during the day time and robbed the unsuspecting traveler during the night time. Thus, by adopting unfair means and indulging in criminal activities, he had collected a lot of wealth.
One day, a few merchants from some other town came to the village. They sold all their belongings and purchased six large size diamonds. On their return journey again they had to cross the jungle. So to save the diamonds from bandits they swallowed them up.
The Bhrahmin had already seen the merchants hiding the diamonds in their stomachs. He decided to steal the diamonds. He went to the merchants and became friends with them.
He read out religious scriptures like the Veda before them and soon won their confidence. He now waited for the right opportunity to steal the diamonds.
As the merchants and the Bhrahmin were passing through the jungle, it became dark. They saw a tribal village nearby. They also heard the crows cawing.
The shrewd Bhrahmin knew that the crows were informing the tribal about the presence of wealth with the merchants. The tribal understood the language of the crows. They came running with sticks and spears and attacked the merchants and the Bhrahmin.
They searched the merchants clothes and luggage, but couldn’t find the diamonds. But since the tribal were convinced of the presence of the wealth with the merchants, they decided to kill all of them and the Bhrahmin too.
Knowing their evil intention, the Bhrahmin thought that if they killed a merchant and found the diamond in his body, they will kill him too and all the other merchants. So the Bhrahmin said to the tribal chief, “You kill me first. If you find the diamond in my body, kill the rest of my brothers.
Otherwise let them go away. So the tribal chief killed the Bhrahmin. He slit his stomach, but could not find any diamond. So he allowed all the other merchants to go home.
The tribals returned to their village. They were surprised. They thought, either the crows had begun telling lies, or they failed to interpret their language correctly.