The Consequences of Curiosity

Ace upon a time, long ago, there was an old woman in a certain village. She had enough at home to live a comfortable life. However, she was lazy and did not work. But that does not mean she did nothing! She spent all her time gossiping, criticizing people, and spreading scandals. Her curiosity about everyone’s affairs knew no bounds. Nobody dared to stop her or hold her accountable, as she was known to invent stories about anyone who criticized her.

One day, while passing by a forest, she saw a young lady. “Granny,” said the young girl, “Will you please hold my bag for a moment? I shall drink from the spring and take it back from you. For your help, I will reward you.”

“I will hold it,” said the old woman, smiling broadly.

“But, Granny, you must not open it. If you do, I will lose its contents, and you will lose your form,” warned the young lady.

“Why would I do something like that?” replied the old woman. The young lady then walked over to the spring to quench her thirst.

However, as soon as the young lady turned her back, the old woman, driven by idle curiosity, opened the bag. Immediately, a hundred tiny creatures—lizards, scorpions, vipers, flies, cockroaches, and dragonflies—jumped out. In the blink of an eye, they vanished into the forest.

The young lady, who was none other than a goddess, turned back and said, “You foolish woman, can’t you keep your word even for a moment? Now, you must recover all that was lost from the bag. For that, you must change your form.”

Instantly, the old woman’s human form disappeared, and she transformed into a woodpecker. She began pecking at the trees in the forest, searching tirelessly for those tiny creatures that had escaped from the bag. To this day, you can see woodpeckers in the forest, forever haunted by the old woman’s curiosity and her fateful choice.