Long ago, there lived a carpenter in a village. He was gentle but his wife was of a wicked nature and bad character. She detested her husband, because he was much older than her. Her infidelity drove her to become friendly with some other young men. One day, she met such a man who showed interest in her. But the man was in fact a thief. He knew that she was a lewd woman and had a lot of money with her. So, with a pretension of love, he decided to rob her. He said to her, I love you very much. I know, you too love me. Why don’t you marry me. Come to me with some money. Then, we’ll run Alay to some other town; marry there and live comfortably, thereafter.”

The carpenter’s wife readily agreed to his proposal. She was herself looking for such an opportunity. She decided to take away with her all the wealth of her husband.

One night, when her husband was fast asleep, she put all the gold and silver ornaments and the money in a bag and left the house. She met her thief boyfriend and they both started moving to some other town. They walked for hours and came across a river. They had to cross the river to reach another town.

As the young man had the only motive of robbing the woman of her ornaments and money, he said to her, “Darling, we have to cross this river to reach another town. We should do it immediately before the break of dawn, otherwise, we might be caught by your husband and relatives.”

“But I don’t know how to swim,” the lady said.

“Don’t worry, first I’ll cross the river and deposit the wealth on the other bank of this river, and then I’ll come back and carry you.”

The woman gladly handed over the money-bag to the thief. The thief again said, “Take off your costly clothes also. I’ll carry them safe and dry across the river.”

The woman, then, took off her clothes also and gave them to the thief. The thief took the wealth and the clothes and then walked off.

The woman, all naked, sat on the bank of the river waiting for hours and hours for the thief to return, but the thief didn’t show up again.

Just then, a wolf wandered there with a piece of meat in his mouth. When he saw a fish in the river water, he put down the piece of meat and ran to catch the fish. Just then, an owl swooped down upon the piece of meat and flew away with it. On the other hand, the fish too swam back deep into the river. The wolf now had nothing to eat. The woman said to the wolf, “What’ll you eat now? you’ve lost the meat and fish both.”

The clever wolf understood all that had happened. He said to the woman, “Your condition is more pitiable than mine. I, nonetheless, would somehow, manage to get food, but what about you? You’ve become naked and also lost your husband, lover, the wealth and even the costly clothes. Who’ll give shelter to you? Who’ll accept you, now?”

The wolf went away, laughing sarcastically at the woman, leaving her to her own destiny.

❖ Bad deeds bring bad consequences.