Greediness
Updated: 22 hours ago
Long ago, there lived a greedy King called Hashavardhan. He looted and taxed his people heavily, regardless of his accumulated wealth, and never cared about others’ suffering. This accumulated wealth didn’t help anyone, not even the King, as he had earned many foes due to his cruelty.
A few of his foes were jealous, and a few others were furious with the King’s nature. Three of them even fought battles against the King, but never succeeded. This was because the King had a wise minister who always devised strategies that ensured his triumph.
So, not intending to lose another war, the three Kings wanted to target their enemies’ weakness rather than fight fair. So, they bribed one of King Hashavardhan’s scouts to inform the King that there was a snake resting in the dark forest with a diamond on its head. They even demanded that the scout mention that the locals claim it’s a rare diamond.
The scout not only did what was told to him but also added that the King’s enemies were fast hunting the snake to capture this diamond for themselves. He even declared that, since it was the King’s property, it was his by right.
Promoting the scout for his duty, King Hashavardhan commanded his minister to send soldiers to fetch the diamond for him at once. Suspicious, the minister advised, “My King, aren’t we prosperous enough? Do we really need this diamond?”
Baffled, the King didn’t even answer; he immediately sent twenty soldiers. Anon, he was informed that not a single soldier had returned. Furious, the King decided to capture the diamond himself. The minister again interjected, asking, “How could one snake kill twenty soldiers?”
Again, King Hashavardhan didn’t answer and rode to the forest to be shot to death by archers.
Credits
This story was written by R. S. Chintalapati, edited by Sreekar Ayyagari and illustrated by Nisha Yadav.
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