The Wise Brahmin and the Protective Cobra

In a small village, there lived a hard-working Brahmin named Haridatta. He owned a farm, but despite his hard work, the farm did not produce enough crops for him to prosper.

One hot day, while working on his farm, he decided to rest under the shade of a tree. Beside the tree, there was an anthill. While he was resting, a cobra emerged from the anthill with its hood raised.

Seeing this, he thought, “This cobra must be the guardian of my farm. From today, I will worship and offer milk to the cobra. Perhaps, the cobra will bless my farm with a rich harvest.”

The Brahmin brought milk on a plate and offered it in front of the anthill and said, “I was not aware of your presence, O protector of my farm, please forgive me and accept my offering.”

The next day, when he came to the anthill, he saw a gold coin on the plate he had offered milk in. He accepted the gold coin as a blessing from the cobra.

This went on for a long time. Every day, the Brahmin would offer milk to the cobra and received a gold coin in return. He started growing rich.

After some time, the Brahmin needed to visit another village. In his absence, he instructed his son to offer milk to the cobra every day and keep the blessing that the cobra gives in return.

Following his instructions, the Brahmin’s son did offer milk to the cobra. When he returned next day, he was astonished to find a gold coin lying in the plate.

He thought, “If the cobra gives a gold coin every day, there must be lots of gold coins inside the anthill. I can take out all the gold coins if I kill the cobra.”

The next morning, instead of offering milk, the Brahmin’s son waited for the cobra to emerge from the anthill and hit it with a stick in an attempt to kill it. The cobra fought back angrily and bit him. The boy died from its poison.

When the Brahmin returned home and learned about his son’s death, he was deeply saddened but did not blame the cobra. He understood that his son’s greed had led to his death.

The next morning, as usual, he went to offer milk to the cobra. The cobra came out of the anthill and confronted him.

The cobra said, “Look at yourself. You have even forgotten your son’s death and have come here out of greed for a gold coin! You do not come here out of respect but for greed. Our friendship cannot last any longer now.”

The cobra gifted him with a diamond this time and said, “Shattered love cannot be restored with a display of affection. Never come here again!”

The Brahmin went home with the diamond and grieved over his son’s foolishness and death.

The moral of this story “The Wise Brahmin and the Protective Cobra” is Greed crosses all borders of reasoning and ends in disaster.