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Somewhere in a town, there lived a merchant’s son by the name of Jveernadhan. As he had lost all his money, he made up his mind to leave that part of the country and go somewhere else, “A man who has formerly lived in a great style, but now lives in great misery, is looked down upon, by all "this was his condition.
In his house, the merchant’s son had a very heavy iron balance, that he had inherited from his forefathers.
He deposited this with another merchant and then left for a different part of the country.
When he had traveled all over the country he returned to his own town, went to the merchant’s house and said, Please return the balance that I deposited with you.
‘But brother,’ said the merchant, ‘I no longer have it. The rats ate it!’
‘Merchant,’ said Jveernadhan, ‘If that’s the case, then it is not your fault. Life is like that, nothing lasts forever. Anyway, I am going to the river for a bath. Please let your son Dhanadev come with me to carry the things and look after them.’
The merchant was afraid that the bath things might be stolen, so he said to his son, ‘My son! Here is your uncle. He is going to the river for a bath. Go along with him and carry the things that he needs.’
The merchant’s son gladly accompanied Jveernadhan to the river and carried his bath things. When he had taken his bath, Jveernadhan caught hold of the merchant’s son and threw him into a cave near the river bank. He then closed the entrance with a big rock and returned to merchant’s house.
When the merchant saw him coming back alone, he cried, ‘Where is my son who went with you to the river?’
‘I am very sorry,’ said Jveernadhan, ‘but as he was standing on the bank of the river, a flamingo swept down, picked him up and flew off with him.’
You liar!’ siad the merchant. ‘How could a flamingo fly off with a child! Return my son to me immediately or I shall complain against you in the royal court.’ On this Jveernadhana retreated, just as a flamingo cannot fly off with a child, so too rats can’t eat away a heavy iron balance. Give me back my balance and I’ll return your son.’
Quarreling like this, they went to the royal court. The merchant began to shout, ‘It’s disgraceful. This thief has kidnapped my son!’
Return the merchant’s son to him, the judges said to Jveernadhan.
‘What can I do?’ he replied. ‘While the child was standing on the river bank, a flamingo swept down, picked him up and flew off with him.’
‘You are telling a great lie said the judges. ‘How could a flamingo ever fly off with a child?’
‘Listen Please!’ said Jveernadhan. ‘Where rats can eat away a heavy iron balance, undoubtedly a flamingo can fly off with a child!’
‘What do you mean?’ asked the judges.
Then Jveernadhan told them the whole story from beginning to end, and the judges burst out laughing.
In due course, they were reconciled. Jveernadhan got back his balance and the merchant his son. The judges were content.
Moral of The Story “And so,” continued Karatak, that’s why I said - ‘Where rats can eat away a heavy iron balance, undoubtedly a flamingo can also fly off with a child.’ “Now, you Damanak are a fool. You could not bear to see Sanjivak favored by the king. That’s why you arranged this quarrel. “In your foolishness, whilst trying to do good for us, you have, in fact, done harm. That’s why they say - A shrewd enemy is far preferable to a foolish benefactor; a foolish monkey killed the king but a shrewd thief saved the lives of the Brahmins.”
“How was that?” asked Damanak. And Karatak said this story. THE KING AND THE FOOLISH MONKEY