________________
81. WATER FROM THE ROOF
A merchant who had gone on a long journey kept his wife waiting impatiently in the loneliness of her house. This young woman simply could not manage to remain without a man. One evening, she told her maid servant about her desperate condition and asked her to get a man. The servant obeyed the mistress and brought a man for her. The merchant's wife and the maid servant properly prepared the man by giving him a clean bath and even clipping his nails. At the proper time in the night, the two climbed on to the attic of the house to enjoy themselves. In the meantime, it began to rain. The man felt thirsty. The woman would not like to go so many steps down below into the kitchen and the man liked to spare her the trouble. He offered to drink the rain water that fell from the roof. He pushed his hand out of the window and drank the water which unfortunately had become poisonous. There was a poisonous snake in the roof above and the water that flowed from the roof contained the deadly venom of the snake. The mar instantaneously. The merchant's wife called the maid who asked her how they could dispose off the body. She suggested leaving it in a temple nearby where hardly any one went. So in the darkness of the night, the two women carried the dead body to the temple.
In the morning, it was discovered by the city guards. They found that the finger nails of the dead man were recently pared. So they made enquiries with the barbers in the town and came acro barber who said he had pared the nails of the man at the instance of the maid servant of the merchant's wife. They caught hold of the maid servant who would not easily admit the charge but came round to confess every thing when she was treated to the usual police methods.
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
