Once upon a time there lived a clever Brahmin in a village. He performed poojas during the day time and robbed the unsuspecting travellers during the night time. Thus, by adopting unfair means and indulging in criminal activities, he had collected a lot of wealth.

One day, two merchants from some other town came to the village. They sold all their belongings and purchased six large size diamonds. On their return journey again they had to cross the jungle. So to save the diamonds from bandits they swallowed them up.

The Brahmin had already seen the merchants hiding the diamonds in their stomachs. He decided to steal the diamonds. He went to the merchants and became friends with them. He read out religious scriptures like the Veda before them and soon won their confidence. He now waited for the right opportunity to steal the diamonds.

As the merchants and the Brahmin were passing through the jungle, it became dark. They saw a tribal village nearby. They also heard the crows cawing. The shrewd Brahmin knew that the crows were informing the tribals about the presence of wealth with the merchants. The tribals understood the language of the crows. They came running with sticks and spears and attacked the merchants and the Brahmin. They searched the merchants clothes and luggage, but couldn’t find the diamonds. But since the tribals were convinced of the presence of the wealth with the merchants, they decided to kill all of them including the Brahmin.

Knowing their evil intention, the Brahmin thought that if they killed a merchant and found the diamond in his body, they will kill him too and the other merchant. So the Brahmin said to the tribal chief, “You kill me first. If you find the diamond in my body, kill the rest of my brothers. Otherwise let them go away. So the tribal chief killed the Brahmin. He slit his stomach, but could not find any diamond. So he allowed two merchants to go home.

The tribals returned to their village. They were surprised. They thought, either the crows had begun telling lies, or they failed to interpret their language correctly.

❖ To sacrifice ones life for others is a great deed.

❖ Better an intelligent enemy than a foolish friend.