There lived in
certain place a Brahman, whose name was Syabhayakripana, which means “a born
miser.” He had collected a quantity of rice by begging, and after having dined
off it, he filled a pot with what was left over. He hung the pot on a peg on
the wall, place his couch beneath, and looking intently at it all the night, he
thought, “Ah, the pot is indeed brimful of rice. Now, if there should be a
famine, I should certainly make a hundred rupees by it. With this I shall buy a
couple of goats. They will have young ones every six months, and thus I shall
have a whole herd of goats. Then, with the goats, I shall buy cows. As soon as
they have calved, I shall sell the calves. Then, with the calves, I shall buy
buffaloes; with buffaloes, I shall buy mares. When the mares have foaled, I
shall have plenty of horses; and when I sell them, I will buy plenty of gold. With
that gold I shall get a house with four wings. And then a Brahman will come to
my house, and will give me his beautiful daughter, with a large dowry. She will
have a son, and I shall call him Somasarman. When he is old enough to be danced
on his father’s knee, I shall sit with a book at the back of the stable, and
while I am reading, the boy will see me, jump from his mother’s lap, and run
towards me to be danced on my knee. He will come too near the horse’s hoof, and
full of anger, I shall call to my wife, “Take the baby; take him!” but she
distracted by some domestic work, does not hear me. Then I get up and give her
such a kick with my foot.
While he thought
this, he gave a kick with his foot, and broke the pot. All the rice fell over
him, and made him quite white. Therefore, I say “he who makes foolish plans for
the future will be white all over, like the father of Somasarman”.
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