Bedtime Stories for Kids - Fortune From A Dead Rat

 Fortune From A Dead Rat


This happened long long ago. There was a beautiful city called Varanasi ruled by Brahmadutta. Shrestha was a citizen of the city. Because of his wisdom and noble nature he had been chosen as the leader of the citizens. It was he who represented the people in the king's court. One day while Shrestha was passing through a locality, his companion stopped, looking at something that lay on the road. "What is it?" asked the chief. "It is a useless thing. A dead rat!" replied the companion. "Nothing is useless in a certain sense. A clever and lucky fellow can make a fortune even out of this dead rat," said Shrestha. Just then a young man who came of a noble family but who had become poor happened to pass by. He overheard what Shrestha said. He had great faith in Shrestha's wisdom. He picked up the dead rat by the tail and resumed walking. He was on his way to the next town in search of some means of livelihood. On the long lonely road, he saw a traveller seated under a tree. The traveller had his pet cat with him. As his eyes fell on the dead rat carried by the youth, he said, "Young man, I will be glad if you spare your rat for the sake of my hungry cat."


The youth gave away the rat and the happy traveller gave him a coin in return. The youth bought an earthen jar with the coin and filling it with cool water sat beside a road which led to the flower market. A group of gardeners who came from distant villages with flowers were thirsty. They drank the water served by the youth with great relish and each one presented him with a few flowers. He prepared half a dozen bouquets and carried them to the market at another end of the town. He sold them at a good price. With the little money he thus earned, he bought some jaggery. At night there was a strong cyclone which damaged hundreds of trees in the royal garden. The whole ground became messy with broken branches. The gardener did not know how to clear them. The youth approached him and said that he can clear the garden of the broken branches if he would be allowed to take away the branches. The gardener gladly agreed to the condition. The youth gathered a number of small boys who were playing the streets and promised them lumps of jaggery if they helped him to clear the mess. The boys were too happy to carry the branches to a place directed by the youth. The youth made bundles of wood out of the branches and waited there till a potter was attracted to the sight. "Will you give me those bundles in exchange for a dozen pots?" he asked. The youth agreed to the deal. The potter happily carried the bundles away to use them as firewood for baking his pots.


The youth sold the pots in the market and received a fair price. Thereafter he raised a shed in a meadow and carried potfuls of water into it. That was a meadow where grass grew fast. A number of people were at work in the meadow busy cutting grass.  They were very happy when they got water to drink. They could work longer at a stretch. This went on for days. "How are we going to repay our debt to you?" they asked him time and time again. "I shall ask you to help me when the need arises," the youth replied. One day he heard that some horse traders were visiting the city with five hundred horses. That day he asked the grass cutters to leave for him a part of the grass they cut. The grass cutters obliged him generously. He carried the grass to the outskirts of the town and heaped them beside a road by which the horse traders were to come. The traders were delighted to see the fresh grass. They wished to feed their horses properly so that the animals looked smarter before being led for sale. The youth sold the grass at a high price. He now possessed over a hundred silver coins. He spent half of the amount and bought a tent and a set of costly clothes for himself.


A ship loaded with merchandise was approaching the port. He perched his tent in the port and met the ship's captain as soon as the ship was anchored. "I wish to buy off all your goods," he told the captain. From the manner and dress of the youth, the captain surmised that he was a seasoned merchant. For the captain, the offer was a welcome proposal, for it would save him the botheration of having to sell the goods in parts to several merchants over a long time. The captain promised to unload the ship at a certain price. The youth handed out fifty silver coins as a token of advance and said that his manager was on his way with the rest of the amount. Next day other merchants came to meet the captain. They learnt that the whole merchandise had been booked by the youth. They were obliged to approach the youth. He sold them parts of the goods at a considerable profit and paid up the captain's due in three days. This transaction brought him a big profit. He thought that his luck was due on Shresthi's observation on the dead rat. Therefore he carried half of the profit to Shrestha. Shrestha was amazed at the youth's enterprise and luck. "Such a boy is to be found rarely," he thought and he married his daughter to the youth.

For more Bedtime Stories Click Here


Comments