Served Right
Long ago, in a certain village, there lived a farmer named Dayaldas. He was a miser and a mean fellow at that.
The Job Offer
One day, Dayaldas decided to hire a servant to carry out his tasks, so he advertised for an able-bodied man.
Madhu, the son of the village headman, saw this as an excellent opportunity to earn some money. He applied to the miser, who told him, “Young man, I’ll pay you four rupees a month. But before parting with each rupee, I’ll ask you a question. If you can answer correctly, the money will be yours.”
Madhu found this requirement a bit strange, but he accepted the condition nonetheless.
The First Month
A month later, Madhu presented himself before Dayaldas to receive his pay. The latter said he would pose questions to which Madhu had to provide the correct answers. The youth agreed, and Dayaldas pointed to a cat. He asked, “What is it?”
Madhu replied, “Oh! It’s a cat.”
“Wrong,” the miser responded, “It’s called ‘pure.’”
Then, pointing to a burning flame, Dayaldas asked, “What is it?” Madhu replied, “It’s fire.”
“Wrong. It’s called ‘happiness.’ Now for the third question. Tell me what that is?” Madhu looked in the direction indicated by Dayaldas and saw a jug full of water. So he said, “That’s a water jug.”
“Wrong again,” cried Dayaldas. “You should have said ‘body.’ Now for the last question, what is that on top?”
Madhu looked up and saw the roof of the house. He said, “That’s the roof of the house.”
This time, too, Dayaldas shouted, “Wrong. You should have said ‘high place.’ As you haven’t answered my questions correctly, you get nothing this month. Better luck next month.”
The Plan
Madhu was not at all disheartened by this. “You’ll see, Sir, next month I’ll answer the questions correctly,” he assured Dayaldas.
Dayaldas, congratulating himself on his cleverness, left the house under the young man’s charge and headed off to the market.
No sooner had he left than Madhu caught the cat, tied a rag around its tail, and set it alight. He threw the animal onto the roof of the cottage. The poor cat, meowing piteously, scampered across the roof, igniting the straw.
Madhu hastily picked up the jug and began to sprinkle water on the flames.
The Catastrophe
Dayaldas’s wife came running and instructed Madhu to report the matter to her husband. So, Madhu rushed to the market to find the old man on his way home.
“Sir, Pure took Happiness and went to the High Place. I poured water from the Body, but it was of no use. I’ve told you this so that you may take action,” he informed Dayaldas.
Now, Dayaldas could not understand what the boy was saying, so he shooed him away and went home leisurely. By the time he reached, he found only a mound of ashes where his house once stood.
Thus, all his cleverness came to naught, and he was hoisted with his own petard.