Once in a town there lived a cart-maker whose name was Ujjwalaka. He was not doing well in his business. Day by day, he was becoming poorer. Seeing no way out, the cart-maker decided to settle in some other town and try his luck there.
While the cart-maker and his family were travelling through a jungle, they saw a female camel suffering from labour pains. Seeing the female camel whining in pain, the cart-maker’s wife pleaded with him to break their journey for some time so that the poor animal could be rendered some help at that vital hour. The cart-maker’s family stopped there and his wife began nursing the female camel. Soon, she gave birth to a baby camel. The cart-maker and his wife took great care and brought her to their house along with her baby. Gradually the baby camel grew to full size.
Fondly, the cart-maker tied a bell round the neck of the young camel. Now whenever, the young camel would move around, the bell would jingle.
The cart-maker would sell the milk of the female camel and earn a lot of money. Soon he purchased one more female camel. The fortune smiled on the cart-maker and soon he became the owner of a number of camels.
All the camels used to go together to graze in a nearby jungle.
The young camel was in a habit of trailing behind other camels. This was of great concern to other camels. They advised the young camel not to stray behind. But the young camel didn’t pay heed to their advice.
One day, the camels were grazing in a nearby jungle. A lion heard the jingling of the bells. He followed the sound and saw a caravan of young camels grazing. He noticed one camel with a bell round its neck, strayed behind and still eating grass. The other camels assuaged their hunger and went back home. The young camel began to loiter around. The lion in the meantime, hid himself behind a bush. When the camel came grazing near the bush the lion pounced upon it, killed and ate it.
Moral—Take heed of a good advice.
