Once there lived a poor Brahmin farmer on the edge of a town. No matter how hard he worked, he never had enough money.
One summer, it was very hot. The farmer was tired, so he sat down to rest under a tree on his farm. There was an ant-hill near by. Suddenly, he saw a big cobra coming out of the ant-hill.
The farmer was very simple and religious. He thought the cobra was the lord of the farm. He had not given it any offerings, so it was perhaps angry with him. Maybe that was why his farm never prospered.
He decided that he must worship the cobra and place some offering for it. He brought a plate full of milk and put it near the ant-hill for the cobra. He also apologised to it for not worshipping it all these days. The next morning, he found the milk had been finished and there was a gold coin in the milk plate. After this, every day the farmer would go to the ant-hill and offered the snake some milk. And every morning, he found a gold coin in the plate!
One day, the farmer had to go to another village for some work. He would be away for a few days, so he told his son to look after the cobra. His son took a plate of milk as usual to the ant-hill for the cobra. Next morning, he found the gold coin.
The son was cunning and greedy, unlike his father. He thought the ant-hill must be full of gold coins. He decided to kill the snake and get all the coins at once. He brought a big stick, waited for the cobra and hit it hard. Fortunately, the cobra was only injured, not killed. But he was so angry that he bit the boy. The boy died on the spot.
When the farmer came back, he found his son dead and the cobra had gone back into the ant-hill. He realised it had been his son’s fault to begin with. And he went again with a plate of milk to the ant-hill.
The cobra looked at him and reminded him of his son’s death and his own injuries. There was
