Bhola, a Brahmin lived in a village. He ploughed his field everyday but the land did not yield anything. He still kept ploughing the unproductive land.
One summer afternoon he sat to rest under a shady mango tree. He glanced at the far side of the field. To his amazement he saw a snake with a raised hood sitting upon an anthill that was the edge of his field. Bhola ran home and fetched milk from his home. He offered the milk in a saucer to the snake and said, “Surely, you are the guardian deity of my land. My inattentiveness has angered you and thus you have rendered my field unproductive. Please accept this offering. Saying this Bhoia left the saucer of milk near the anthill.
The next morning Bhola returned to the field, To his utter surprise and delight he found a shining gold coin which glittered in the saucer. He picked up the glittering coin and took it home. Thus every day Bhola brought milk for the snake and received a gold coin the next day.
One day Bhola left for an odd job in the nearby city. He asked his son to take the saucer of milk to the anthill. The next day Bhola’s son saw the glittering piece of gold in the saucer. Bhola’s son observed the same thing on the following day. He thought to himself.’ “If a single coin appears every day, it surely means that the anthill has a horde of such gold coins which is guarded by this snake. I will kill the snake and get all the coins at once.” So saying he proceeded to break down the anthill with a thick and strong stick. The snake escaped to save his life. Even the constant beating from the stick did not do much harm to the snake. In anger the snake struck his sharp and poisonous fangs into the boy’s hand. The boy soon died because of the snakebite and was duly cremated by the villagers.
Greediness is the root cause of unhappiness.
good learning story