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Nandi Sootra
here in my palace."The barren woman thought - "This is a good opportunity. It will take many years for the queen's son to grow, why not enjoy the regal comforts of the palace." And she at once gave her consent. The real mother was in a quandary. She wanted the son not the regal comforts. But how to tell this to the queen; she might get angry.
The queen at once understood that the woman who had accepted her proposal was the barren one. She was punished. The son was given to the real mother.
9. "Give me, what you like" - There lived a merchant in a city. He suddenly died one day. It was difficult for his wife to manage the business he left. She could not even recover the money the merchant had loaned on interest. At last she called another merchant, who was a friend of her deceased husband and said - "I would request you to help me recover from the market the loans advanced by my husband." This friend was very selfish. He gave a proposal - "If you give me some cut from the recovery, I can recover the entire loan. The lady replied - "Give me, what you like." The selfish man got what he wanted. Very soon he recovered all the money. He divided the money into two parts - one very large and the other very small. He gave the lesser amount to the lady who refused to take it and instead took the matter to the court.
The lady explained to the judge the terms of the agreement and said that the selfish friend was going against what he promised. The judge got the point. He called for the wealth and divided into two heaps as desired by the selfish friend. Now he asked the offender - "Tell me which of the heaps you like?" The offender pointed at the large heap and said - "My lord, I like this one." The judge said - "According the contract you have confirmed, you have to give this lady what you like. You have just said that you like the larger heap therefore you have to give the larger heap to this lady."
The selfish friend was caught in his own trap. He cursed himself on his foolishness and took the smaller heap away. The lady returned home with her wealth.
10. A Hundred Thousand - There was a parivrajak (a type of monk) with exceptionally sharp meinory. Whatever he listened once he remembered verbatim. He had a large silver pot which he called Khotak. Proud of his memory he one day declared before a large audience - "Whoever narrates something that I have not already heard will be rewarded with this large Khotak." Hearing of this challenge many persons came and told numerous stories. But after hearing any story told to him the parivrajak would repeat it verbatim and claim that he already knew it.
A witty person understood the clever trick the partvrajak was playing. He decided to teach the parivrajak a lesson by ensnaring him in his own trap. The fame of the parivrajak and the sessions of story telling became so popular that now the competition became a part of the king's court. At an opportune moment the witty person went to the court and said that he would recite a verse that the parivrajak can never have heard. The partvrajak smiled confidently and said - "Indeed! Come, you also display your expertise."
The witty person recited in a loud voice so that everyone in the court, including the king, could hear clearly what he said
"Your father owes my father a hundred thousand rupees.
If you have not heard of this give me the Khotak. If you have, and you are Aagam-44 - Nandi Sootra
73 - Compiled by- Deepratnasagar
