Story 127 - The Result of Greed

There was a very cruel and funny master in India. He used to torture his servant 'in a most funny way. Once, the servant cooked a most delicious dish for the master. The master did not like that the servant should partake of it. It was cooked at night and the master said, "We won't eat it just now; we may eat it in the morning. Go to bed just now, and, we will eat it in the morning". The real intention of the master was to eat in the morning, because by that time he would have a very strong appetite. Having abstained from taking any food at night, he would be in a position to eat the whole in the morning, and not let the servant eat anything. That was the real intention of the master. He wanted that the servant should feed on crusts and crumbs, but this intention he could not lay plainly before the servant. He said to the servant, "Well, go to rest, and in the morning, that one of us will eat it who dreams the sweetest dreams, the finest dreams. If by the morning you have dreamed the finest dreams, the whole will be your share; otherwise, the whole will come to me and I will eat it up and you will have to satisfy yourself with crumbs and crusts." The morning came and now the servant and master sat before each other. The master wanted the servant to relate his dreams, and the servant said, "Sir, you are master, and ought to have the precedence; you had better relate your dreams first and then I will state mine." The master thought within himself that this poor servant, this ignorant, illiterate fellow, could not invent very fine dreams. He began to say, "In my dream I was the Emperor of India. In my dream I saw that all the European powers, all the American powers were brought under the sway of the king of India, and so I, as Emperor of India, ruled over the whole world." You know this was the dream of the cruel master. True Indians do not wish to continue that childish custom of putting up before themselves lumps of flesh called kings and worshipping them. Well, that was the dream of that man. He regarded himself as sitting on the throne of India and governing the whole world, and there he found all the kings of all the countries standing before him and offering him homage. Besides, in his dream he saw all the gods and all the saints brought into his court and sitting on his left hand side, or right hand side. Now having related his own dream, he wanted the servant to tell his story, to tell his dream.

The servant, poor fellow trembling from head to foot, said, "Sir, Sir, I have not had any such dream as you had." The master was elated and very happy, and thought that all the delicious food would come to his lot. The servant began to say that in the dream he saw a big monster, a most ugly, heinous demon coming up to him, with a blazing sword in his hand. Well, the master began to ask, "What next, what next?" Then he said,. "Sir, he ran after me, he was about to kill me," The master smiled that that was a hopeful sign. "He began to kill me, he was trying to slay me". The master said, "And what did you do? What was his object in slaying you?" The servant said, "Sir, he wanted me to eat that delicious food or to die." The master said, "And then what did you do?" He said, "I simply went up to the kitchen and ate up everything." The master said, "Why did you not wake me up?" The servant replied, "Sir, you were the Emperor of the whole world. In your court there was a grand, magnificent gathering and there were men with drawn swords and cannon. Had I tried to approach your majesty, they would have killed me. I could not come to you and inform you what a terrible plight I was in, so I was forced to eat that delicious food, to enjoy it by myself."

MORAL: Greed very often results in the loss of what one has in possession already.

Vol. 1 (281-283)