The Snake With a Gold Coin

Tue June 7, 2011 by Kunal Bansal

There was a farmer called Shankar in Dani village. He was a poor farmer who used to toil the whole day in his farm. One day, he was working in the farm on a sunny day. Tired and exhausted by the heat he lay down under a tree?s shadow to take a small nap. When he was just about to doze off, he saw a snake with a huge hood coming towards his hands. His farm was not yielding high results since a few months. He said to himself, ?This snake is my guardian. I haven?t worshipped it any time in my life. That is the reason I am facing loss in my yield.? Being a spiritual man, he bowed down in front of the snake. He got milk in a bowl and said loudly, ?Oh my Guardian. I was not aware you lived here. That is the reason I never worshipped you.? The next day when he was back in his office, the farmer saw one gold coin in his bowl. He repeated the practice of giving milk everyday. In return he would get the coin in the morning. The farmer had to visit a village one day, so he asked his son to serve milk to the snake. The son did as he was asked to. As always, he found the gold coin in the bowl the next day. Being a selfish man, he thought, ?The area seems to be having a lot of gold coins here. Instead of waiting for a gold coin every morning, I would kill the snake and get all of them.? So the next day, when he was serving the snake milk, he hit the snake with a stick. However, the snake escaped his blow and in a fit of rage, bit the farmer?s son, who fell dead on the spot. When the farmer came back from the village he heard about his son?s death. He cried and mourned. After a few days, he went back to the farm and calling him loudly, he served him milk. He cried out loud but the snake did not give any response. After sometime, the snake came out of its snake hole. He said to the farmer, ?Your son is dead and you still are greedy to get the gold coin. From now on we are not friends. Your son tried to kill me so I bit him. How can you I forget the pain he caused me? How can you forget about your son?s death?? The snake gave the farmer a expensive pearl and went away. He said, ?I will no more give you any coin.? The farmer took the pearl and left cursing the sins of his son.