The Tale of the Barber's Folly - Moral Story in English
There lived a wealthy moneylender named Manibhadra in Pataliputra. Due to his involvement in public service and religious activities, his wealth decreased and his respect in society declined. This made Manibhadra very sad. He became worried day and night. Manibhadra's heart trembled with the dreadful thoughts of poverty. He thought that death is better than this life of humiliation. He was lost in these thoughts when he fell asleep.
In his sleep, he saw a dream. In the dream, the God of Wealth appeared to him in the guise of a monk and said, "Give up despair. Your ancestors had respected me a lot. That is why I have come to your house. Tomorrow morning I will come to you again in the same guise. At that time, you hit me on my head with a stick. Then I will die and turn into gold. That gold will end your poverty forever."
On waking up in the morning, Manibhadra kept thinking about the significance of this dream. Strange doubts arose in his mind. He did not know whether this dream was true or false, whether it was possible or impossible, his mind was wavering in these thoughts. Perhaps he had dreamed of accumulating wealth due to his constant worry about money. He remembered what he had heard from someone that the dreams of a sick, grief-stricken and worried person are meaningless. To be optimistic about their significance is to deceive oneself.
Moral Story in English
Manibhadra was thinking this when suddenly a monk similar to the one he had seen in his dream arrived there. Seeing him, Manibhadra's face lit up, he remembered the dream. He picked up a stick lying nearby and hit the monk's head lightly. The monk died instantly. As soon as he fell on the ground, his whole body turned into gold. Manibhadra hid his golden dead body.
But, at the same time a barber had arrived there. He had seen all this. Manibhadra offered him a lot of money, clothes etc. and urged him to keep this incident a secret. The barber did not tell this to anyone else, but decided to try this simple method of earning money himself. He thought that if one monk can become golden after being hit by a stick, then why can't another. He decided in his mind that tomorrow morning he too will become rich like Manibhadra by turning many monks into golden in a single day. With this hope he waited for the morning all night, did not sleep even for a moment.
Waking up in the morning, he went out in search of the monks. There was a temple of Buddhist monks nearby. After doing three rounds of the temple and praying to Lord Buddha for the fulfillment of his wishes, he went to the head monk of the temple, touched his feet and after proper prayers, humbly requested - "You please come to my house along with all the monks for today's alms."
Moral Story in English
The head monk said to the barber - "You are probably not familiar with the rules of our alms. We are not like those monks who go to the houses of householders after receiving an invitation for food. We are monks who voluntarily go to any devotee's house while roaming around and eat only as much food there as is sufficient for survival. Therefore, do not invite us. Go to your house, we will suddenly come to your door any day."
The barber was a little disappointed by the words of the head monk, but he used a new trick. He said, "I am aware of your rules, but I am not calling you for alms. My purpose is to give you the material for writing a book. This great work will not be accomplished without your coming." The head monk agreed to the barber's words. The barber quickly headed home.
He went home and prepared sticks and kept them near the door. After the preparations were complete, he again went to the monks and took them to his house. The monks also started following him out of greed for money and clothes.
It was their greed that deceived them. The barber took them inside the house and started hitting them with sticks. Some of them fell down right there and some had their heads broken. People gathered on hearing their noise. The police chief of the city also reached there. On reaching there, he saw that the bodies of many monks were lying dead, and many monks were injured and running here and there to save their lives.
Moral Story in English
When the barber was asked the reason for this bloodshed, he told about the injured monk turning into gold in Manibhadra's house and said that he too wanted to collect gold quickly. After hearing this from the barber, the state officials called Manibhadra and asked him - "Have you killed any monk?"
Manibhadra told the story of his dream from beginning to end. The judges of the state ordered the death penalty for that barber. And said - This punishment is appropriate for a person who does such a thing without thinking. It is appropriate for a man that he should not do any work without seeing, knowing, listening and properly examining. Otherwise, he faces the same result as the barber in this story.
Moral:- Do not do anything without seeing, knowing, listening and properly examining it.
Moral Story in English
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