THE FARMER AND THE MONEY-LENDER | Hindostan ki kahanian

THE FARMER AND THE MONEY-LENDER

There was once a farmer who suffered much at the hands of a money-
lender. Good harvests, or bad, the farmer was always poor, the money-
lender rich. At the last, when he hadn't a farthing left, farmer went
to the money-lender's house, and said, "You can't squeeze water from a
stone, and as you have nothing to get by me now, you might tell me the
secret of becoming rich."

"My friend," returned the money-lender, piously, "riches come from Ram
--ask _him_."

"Thank you, I will!" replied the simple farmer; so he prepared three
girdle-cakes to last him on the journey, and set out to find Ram.

First he met a Brahman, and to him he gave a cake, asking him to point
out the road to Ram; but the Brahman only took the cake and went on his
way without a word, Next the farmer met a Jogi or devotee, and to him
he gave a cake, without receiving any help in return. At last, he came
upon a poor man sitting under a tree, and finding out he was hungry,
the kindly farmer gave him his last cake, and sitting down to rest
beside him, entered into conversation.

"And where are you going?" asked the poor man, at length.

"Oh, I have a long journey before me, for I am going to find Ram!"
replied the farmer. "I don't suppose you could tell me which way to
go?"

"Perhaps I can," said the poor man, smiling, "for _I_ am Ram! What
do you want of me?"

Then the farmer told the whole story, and Ram, taking pity on him, gave
him a conch shell, and showed him how to blow it in a particular way,
saying, "Remember! whatever you wish for, you have only to blow the
conch that way, and your wish will be fulfilled. Only have a care of
that money-lender, for even magic is not proof against their wiles!"

The farmer went back to his village rejoicing. In fact the money-lender
noticed his high spirits at once, and said to himself, "Some good
fortune must have befallen the stupid fellow, to make him hold his head
so jauntily." Therefore he went over to the simple farmer's house, and
congratulated him on his good fortune, in such cunning words,
pretending to have heard all about it, that before long the farmer
found himself telling the whole story--all except the secret of blowing
the conch, for, with all his simplicity, the farmer was not quite such
a fool as to tell that.

Nevertheless, the money-lender determined to have the conch by hook or
by crook, and as he was villain enough not to stick at trifles, he
waited for a favourable opportunity and stole the conch.

But, after nearly bursting himself with blowing the conch in every
conceivable way, he was obliged to give up the secret as a bad job.
However, being determined to succeed he went back to the farmer, and
said, coolly, "Look here; I've got your conch, but I can't use it; you
haven't got it, so it's clear you can't use it either. Business is at a
stand-still unless we make a bargain. Now, I promise to give you back
your conch, and never to interfere with your using it, on one
condition, which is this,--whatever you get from it, I am to get
double."

"Never!" cried the farmer; "that would be the old business all over
again!"

"Not at all!" replied the wily money-lender; "you will have your share!
Now, don't be a dog in the manger, for if _you_ get all you want,
what can it matter to you if _I_ am rich or poor?"

At last, though it went sorely against the grain to be of any benefit
to a money-lender, the farmer was forced to yield, and from that time,
no matter what he gained by the power of the conch, the money-lender
gained double. And the knowledge that this was so preyed upon the
farmer's mind day and night, so that he had no satisfaction out of
anything.

At last, there came a very dry season,--so dry that the farmer's crops
withered for want of rain. Then he blew his conch, and wished for a
well to water them, and lo! there was the well, _but the money-lender
had two!_--two beautiful new wells! This was too much for any farmer
to stand; and our friend brooded over it, and brooded over it, till at
last a bright idea came into his head. He seized the conch, blew it
loudly, and cried out, "Oh, Ram! I wish to be blind of one eye!" And so
he, was, in a twinkling, but the money-lender of course was blind of
both, and in trying to steer his way between the two new wells, he fell
into one, and was drowned.

Now this true story shows that a farmer once got the better of a money-
lender--but only by losing one of his eyes.