GREED and LUST
The Three Sins A Teaching Story
By
VIKRAM KARVE
Here is a teaching story I heard once somewhere - I think it is from the Panchatantra...
There was an old man, a good natured simple farmer, who had a young wife.
The young wife was not satisfied with her aged simpleton husband, neglected her household work, and always yearned for the company of young handsome men.
One day, a smart young good-looking man saw her and seeing that she was alone went to her and said, “You are the most beautiful woman in the world and I am the most eligible bachelor. I have fallen in love with you the moment I saw you. Please give me the pleasure of your company.”
The woman was delighted and flattered at the young man's seductive advances and soon they became clandestine lovers.
One day, the woman said to the young Casanova, “Listen my dear, my husband has a lot of wealth. He is old and of no use to me. I will take out all the money and jewellery and let us elope to some other town and then we both can live together over there happily ever after.”
The smart young man was very happy and asked her to bring all her wealth to the mango orchard at midnight where he would be waiting for her.
“We will both disappear in the darkness and head for the next town,” he told assured her.
The lusty woman waited till it was dark and when her husband fell asleep she stole all the money, jewellery and gold, packed it in a bag and left the house at midnight to meet her lover at a place he had indicated.
The young handsome man took the bag full of money and gold from her on the pretext that he would carry the heavy bag for her and they both started furtively walking towards the next town.
After some time they encountered a river which was in full flow and which they had to cross. The woman told the man she did not know how to swim and she asked her lover to carry her across the flowing river on his back.
The smart young handsome man looked at the woman and thought to himself, “What is the point of wasting my whole life with this woman...? She seems a bit older than me too and soon may turn into a shrew. Also if she couldn’t be loyal to her own husband it is highly possible that she may ditch me too for someone else who is better looking, smarter, younger and handsomer than me. It is better I dump this woman but I must take her money and jewellery with me.”
With these thoughts in mind he told the woman, “Look, my dear, it is very difficult for me to swim across the river carrying both you and this heavy bag. I will first swim with the heavy money bag to the other side of the river and after keeping it there on the other side I will come back and carry you on my back across the river.”
She readily agreed to the suggestion made by her lover.
He asked her to take off her clothes too and give them to him to carry across the river as he felt her clothes would hinder swimming when he would carry her on his back across the river.
Her imagination sensing amorous thoughts of both of their bodies in the water together, she took off all her clothes and gave them to her lover who swam across the river the money-bag and her clothes.
Sitting on the bank of the river and covering her naked body with her hands, the woman began waiting anxiously for her lover to return.
Just then a jackal with a piece of meat in his mouth happened to pass by.
The jackal saw that big juicy fish had been washed ashore by a wave and desperate to catch it the jackal ran towards the fish and in the process he dropped the meat piece from his mouth.
But suddenly another big wave took the fish back into the river waters.
Disappointed, the jackal went back to pick up the piece of meat, but meanwhile a crow dived down fast and took the meat piece away before the jackal could reach it.
The woman laughed mockingly at the greedy jackal who had lost the both the fish and also the piece of meat.
VIKRAM KARVE
Copyright © Vikram Karve 2011
Vikram Karve has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.© vikram karve., all rights reserved.
I have recently published a book of short stories about relationships called COCKTAIL. You will love the stories in COCKTAIL. To know more please click the links below:
VIKRAM KARVE educated at IIT Delhi, ITBHU Varanasi, The Lawrence School Lovedale, and Bishop's School Pune, is an Electronics and Communications Engineer by profession, a Human Resource Manager and Trainer by occupation, a Teacher by vocation, a Creative Writer by inclination and a Foodie by passion. An avid blogger, he has written a number of fiction short stories and creative non-fiction articles in magazines and journals for many years before the advent of blogging. His delicious foodie blogs have been compiled in a book "Appetite for a Stroll". A collection of his short stories about relationships titled COCKTAIL has been published and Vikram is currently busy writing his first novel and with his teaching and training assignments. Vikram lives in Pune with his family and his muse – his pet Doberman X Mudhol Hound girl Sherry, with whom he goes on long walks thinking creative thoughts.
COCKTAIL - Stories about Relationships by Vikram Karve
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