THE BRAHMIN AND THE WILD GEESE
There was once a Brahmin who had a large family, and was very poor. Every day he went out into the Bazaar to beg, but whether he begged for only an hour, or for the whole day, he seldom succeeded in getting a seer of atta (two pounds of flour).
Now this made his wife very angry, for she thought that the longer he begged, the more he should gain. She suspected that he sold what he was given, instead of bringing it home for his family, so she accused him and beat him soundly.
The Brahmin was deeply vexed at her treatment, and determined to go to the river and there drown himself; yet when he tried to do so, his courage failed, so he alternately threw himself into the water and then changed his mind and came out again.
His conduct attracted the attention of a couple of wild geese, who had their nest near by.
“I wonder what that man is doing; I think I will go and see,” said the gander; but his wife advised him not, “for who knows the ways of human beings.”
Yet he would not listen, and going up to the Brahmin, asked him the reason of his strange conduct.
The Brahmin told him everything, and when he had done the goose said: “Shut your eyes till I tell you to open them.”
The Brahmin did as he was told, and on opening his eyes, the goose held out to him in its beak, a most valuable and beautiful ruby.