The Day The Landlord Grew Invisible
Centuries ago there was a landlord in a big village in China. The one thing he knew in life was to grab at others' property. He had accumulated much money and many other valuable things. But he was not tired of desiring more. Once the province was struck by famine. Merchants set out to the neighboring provinces for securing rice. But a few days must pass before they would return with rice. The people of the village knew that the landlord had a bumper stock of rice. They appealed to him to lend them a few bags of his rice. But he turned down their request. He dreamt of a worse time for them when they would be obliged to get rice from him in exchange for their precious lands. Chung, a clever young man, has paid a visit to that village to meet his maternal uncle. He saw how the villagers suffered for the dearth of rice while the landlord had so much of it in his stock. Chung, an excellent actor, crept into the landlord's garden and took a position on a slab of stone. He sat fixing his gaze on a crow's nest in the tree. It was awfully hot summer noon. The landlord was intrigued to see a stranger seated in his garden. He came near him and demanded to know what he was doing.
"Is it your garden sir? I'm pleased to meet you. I don't mean any harm. I am waiting for the crow to leave the tree so that I can steal its nest," said the young man. Never had the landlord heard of anybody coveting a crow's nest. He grew even more intrigued. "But why do you need the nest?" he asked. "Excuse me, sir, that is none of your business. You surely won't grudge me a trifle like a crow's nest!" said Chung. "This is my garden. Even if I don't claim to have invited the crow to build its nest in my tree, legally the nest is my property. I won't allow you to take it unless you tell me why you need it," said the landlord. "Very well sir, I shall tell you all. But first promise that you won't stop me from taking it." "All right. I promise," said the landlord. "Keep it to yourself. This crow is a special kind of crow called 'one-in-a-billion-crow.' A wizard had pointed it out to me. Since then I am following it without food and sleep. I have covered hundreds of miles.
But it always evades me. I am lucky that today I could trace it to its nest. Its nest possesses a magic quality." Chung suddenly stopped. "What magic quality, please?" asked the landlord, agog with curiosity. "The nest is made of so many sticks, isn't it? Now, one of them has strange magic in it - I have to find out which one. The moment you thrust it into your hair, you grow invisible. You understand? You can do anything!" "I am not going to allow you to take away the nest," declared the landlord. "But you promised that you won't stop me from taking it!" complained Chung. Their quarrel scared away the crow. At once the landlord climbed the tree. He got badly bruised all over but succeeded in taking hold of the nest. When he came down, he found the young man weeping. "I will tell everybody that you can grow invisible and that everybody ought to be on his guard!" blurted out Chung, stomaching a sob. That put the landlord to anxiety. Nobody should know his secret. He offered a hundred-two hundred- a thousand rupees to Chung for buying his silence.
But Chung would not have any money. However, a hundred bags of rice can silence him- he said. The landlord agreed to the bargain. Chung distributed the rice among the villagers. Inside the house, the landlord whispered to his wife, "Tell me when you cease to see me!" He then picked up a stick from the nest and thrust it into this hair and asked, "Do you see me?" "Yes!" replied the wife. The landlord went on trying one stick after another. Bored with her husband's crazy conduct which seemed to her crazy, at last she shouted "I don't see anything!" "That's it!" exclaimed the landlord and he went out. Straight he headed for the bazaar that was a few miles away. He was hungry. He entered a sweetmeat shop and gobbled up some choice sweets and left the shop. The shopkeeper knew him. He was a bit surprised, but he said nothing, under the impression that the landlord was in a hurry and would surely pay him before leaving the bazaar. The shopkeeper's silence convinced the landlord that he had grown invisible. Overjoyed, he next entered a jeweler's shop and picked up the cash box. The jeweler looked puzzled but only for a second. He pounced upon the landlord and held him tight and raised a loud cry. So many people came rushing there. Blows rained on the robber. The landlord returned home limping, sad but wiser!
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