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75. A LAZY MAN AND A MAGIC
PITCHER
Aman who fell from prosperity into dire adversity, left his home and wandered everywhere. He could not lay his hands on anything to retrieve his prosperity. Once he spent a night in a temple in a small village and what he saw in the course of the night was indeed amazing. He saw a căndăla coming out of the temple with a strange looking pitcher in his hand. He left it on the ground, stood aside and ordered it to produce a house and the pitcher did it. There was a house in front of him. The candāla further asked the pitcher to get him food, wine, bed and a woman. He enjoyed himself the whole night and pushed everything back into the pitcher when the morning came.
The unfortunate man in the temple watched all this and approached the cândala and told him that he would very much like to enjoy similar pleasures if he would be kind enough to show him the way. The candāla asked whether he wanted to learn the magical lore or possess only the pitcher. The man was so utterly lazy, in fact that was the basic reason of the loss of all his prosperity, that he would be most reluctant to exert himself in any way to learn and practise the magical art but like all lazy men he was far too eager to enjoy the pleasures. So he asked for the pitcher which the candāla quickly gave.
The lazy man came to his village where he built a house of pleasure. He collected a large group of friends and companions but he neglected the management of his house, the servants neglected their own work, the cattle was left unfed and everything in the house
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