________________
83. AN UNLUCKY MAN
A man was so unlucky that whatever he did involved him in calamity. Once he borrowed from a friend a pair of bullocks and ploughed his fields till the evening. He returned the bullocks and put them back in their pen. Since his friend was having his meals, he did not go inside the house to tell him but made sure that his friend had seen the bullocks returning home. So this man went back to his own place. But in the meantime, the bullocks left their enclosure and strayed away. Some cattle lifters took them away with the result that the owner of the bullocks asked this man to give the bullocks back to him. This he simply could not and his friend dragged him to the king's court.
On his way to the court, he saw a man coming towards him in the opposite direction on horse back. Suddenly the horse threw the rider off and bolted away. The rider of the horse asked our luckless friend to hit the horse with the stick he had in his hand. Unfortunately, he hit the horse on a very sensitive spot and the horse died. The horseman caught hold of him and dragged him to the court of law.
When however they reached the court, it was too late and the court had closed for the day. So they decided to spend the night in a park outside the city. In the same park many others including some actors and performers had camped for the night. Our unlucky friend was so much terrified by the two mishaps that he thought of committing suicide. He chose a tall tree and to the branch of it he tied an old garment to hang himself. But ill-luck would not leave him so easily. The old piece of cloth gave way and the unlucky man fell · on top of an elderly actor who was sleeping on the ground below
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
