Story : Hiss…Want some money?
Once there was a boy, Madhav. His father was a farmer but he wanted to do business as an occupation. He found the cores of the farming boring. His father wanted him to join the family in the farming and follow the suit. He wanted money to start the business and father was reluctant to provide any money. So Madhav used to spend his days by roaming here and there. One day his father scolded him hard.
He said, “If you will not come to the farm you will not get the bread.” This humiliated him a lot. He felt ashamed in front of the whole family. That day he went to the farm with his father and brothers but he could not concentrate on work. He started digging the earth near the trees. Self pity made him cry. He spent the whole day lamenting on his fate. In the evening when he was returning back from the farm, he realized that someone was following him. He turned back but there was no one. Then he started walking again. This time he heard a sound “hiss….hiss…”. He looked down and saw a long golden snake. He was about to run out of fear but the snake hissed again and asked, “Want some money?” Madhav was shocked but he was too desperate to deny the offer. He nodded and said, “Yes.”
The snake said , “Follow me.” It crossed all the farms of the village and entered the forest. It became dense and dangerous as they went far and far. Madhav kept following the snake. At last they came near a water fall. The snake led him behind the water fall into a huge cave. There were murals of snakes and humans on the walls of the cave. It was a full moon night so the cave was illuminated by the Moonlight. Some down stairs were there. When the snake stepped on the first stair it turned into a beautiful woman with golden tan. Madhav looked at her amazed.
When he moved forward to follow her she said, “Stop. Think twice before following me. From these stairs either you can come back with great wealth or you will die crushing between these stairs. One more thing, today is full moon night you have to find two more persons eligible as successor of millions of gold coins till another full moon night to get your wealth. But if they turned out fake you will not only loose the wealth but also your dear life.”
Madhav said, “I am confused. What are you saying?”
Snake said, “I am Sona, to make you understand the whole concept, I will tell you a story of three men.
The first man was a merchant. His name was Vishnudutta. He used to go faraway places in huge ships to sell the goods of his country. While returning from those places he brought with him unique things of those places. This made him a very wealthy man. He loved his work, travelling new places, meeting different people, learning about their culture. When he became old he asked his sons to do the same. But they refused. They said, “We have enough money for our seven generations to survive. Why should we move from place to place away from our family and friends and waste our life?” This was a nightmare for Vishnudutta. He tried his best to convince his sons to pursue his occupation as a source of living but it was all in vein. So one night he put all his wealth in the carts and moved towards the forest. He moved in the deep and dense forest and came to this water fall.
The second man was a Zamindar. His name was Somsen. Unlike the conventional Zamindars he believed in socialism. He owned a huge land. By the grace of God his farms yielded excellent crops every year. He spent a large amount of his income in the welfare of the village. Construction of inns, roads, schools etc. were his areas of interest. But one day, his wife came to him and said, “Enough is enough. Me and my kids are not going to let you spend the entire wealth on these villagers.” Zamindar Somsen said, “I shut out, you shut out who will carry water out ? Someone has to put the shoulder to the wheel of progress of the villagers.” But his wife did not share his ideology. Their arguments turned into fights and their relation became bitter and bitter day by day. One night, Zamindar thought that there was no one to succeed his wealth. He put all his wealth in carts and went to the forest. He also reached at the same waterfall.
The third man was Seth Kishorilal, a very reputed citizen of the state. All the pleasures and joys of this earth were present at his house. He was blessed with a very handsome and intelligent son. His son was his proud. He considered himself as the luckiest person on this earth. His son was an obedient boy, he had a lots of money and very good status in the society. One day his son went to forest with his friends. There he met a girl who belonged to Bheel tribe ( a tribe that lives in forest) and fell in love with her. When Kishorilal came to know about his affair, he became furious. He wanted his son to get married to the daughter of some royal. He tried his hard to pursue his son to back out of that affair but the son was too determined to be persuaded. At last he said, “If you will marry the girl of your choice, you will not inherit my property and wealth.” The boy said, “I don’t need your money and I can earn this much and of course more, than this myself.” He left his father’s home and went to the girl. But when the Bheels came to know that his father is against this alliance. They killed them both because they did not want to mess up with Seth Kishorilal. When he came to know about his son’s death he broke down. He felt that his shallow pride was the only reason of his son’s sudden demise. Now he had nothing to be happy about. No successor for his huge wealth. One night he put all his wealth in carts and went to the forest. He also reached at the same waterfall.
That night was same in all the three stories. The three of them met and became friends as they had the same motive that is to find a successor. But they were too tired and depressed to find one. So they called king of snakes. He was the friend of Seth Kishorilal.
They said, “Please guard our wealth and find a suitable successor for all three of us.” He agreed and called his three daughters --- Sona (that’s me), Rupa (silver) and Pragya (wisdom), my sisters to guard the wealth and find its suitable successors.
You can be the successor of the merchant and get his immense wealth, provided you can find the successors of the Zamindar Somsen and Kishorilal , till the next full moon night. If any of you turn out to be fake, all of you will die .”
When Madhav came out of the cave it was dawn. He considered it a good omen and went in search of the other two successors. He travelled a long way and came to a village where some people were digging a huge pond. Madhav asked, “What are you doing?” They replied, “We are Zamindar’s labors. We are constructing a huge tank for rainwater harvesting.” Madhav decided to meet the Zamindar so he went to his house. On his way he saw that Zamindar had done a lot of work for the welfare of the villagers like construction of wells, schools, inns etc.
He asked Zamindar, “You have done a lot for villagers but most of the things are kuccha (temporary).”
Zamindar replied, “I want to do a lot but financial crunch hinders my efforts.”
Madhav said, “I can help you to get a lot of money.”
Madhav narrated him the whole story of the snake.
Zamindar said, “Your story is too unbelievable to be true. But it is too tempting to be ignored.”
They both smiled and started their journey in search of the successor of Kishorilal. They travelled a maze of villages for almost a fortnight and came on the bank of a river. It was dusk and the sun was about to rise. There was only a single boat so they went to it to cross the river. But they were astonished to see that the Navik (sailor) was weeping. They asked, “Why are you weeping?”
He said, “It’s a long story. I use to live happily taking passengers across the banks but one morning, the same as this one, when I was waiting for passengers, the princess of the kingdom came to the bank. It took some time for her men to bring her royal boat so she boarded my boat. I have never seen such a beautiful princess. Her beauty was just like morning sunshine. I sang in praise of her beauty. When we reached the bank we both fell in love for each other. But when the king came to know about this he decided to kill me. It was only my princess’s efforts and emotional pressure on the King that I am still alive. But there is no friend for King’s enemy. No one wants to sit in my boat. Soon I will die of hunger. Without my love. Without my dreams.”
His tragic story brought immense satisfaction to Madhav and Zamindar. They told Navik that they could help him to get a huge wealth and his love. Navik became very happy and joined them in their journey. When they reached the cave, it was full moon night. Sona was not there in the cave. They decided to go downstairs and stepped the first ladder. Suddenly, Sona appeared from the murals on the wall of the cave. She said, “All of you ready to take the test. If any of you fail, all the three of you will lose your life.”
They all said, “We are ready for your test.”
Sona said, “These are golden stairs soon they will end and silver stairs will begin. There you will meet my sister, Rupa. She will ask you a question. If she gets satisfied she will let you move ahead otherwise you will meet your end.”
As they stepped down the golden stairs were replaced by the silver one. There stood an extremely beautiful maiden in silver clothes, silver ornaments and cascading silver hair. She smiled and said, “Hello, I am Rupa. First answer my question then you may move ahead.”
They said, “Ask your question. We all are ready.”
She asked, “How much money a person shall have?”
Madhav replied, “A person shall have enough money to buy the goods and sell them further to make more money out of it.”
Zamindar replied, “A person shall have enough money to make the standard of living of the whole society equal and good.”
Navik replied, “Money shall never become a barrier in love. A lover shall have enough money to marry his sweet heart.”
“You passed my test. Now my sister Pragya will decide about your fate.” She said and let them move ahead.
The silver stairs were replaced by transparent one. There stood a beautiful maiden of transparent silhouette.
She said, “I am Pragya. These stairs will lead you to three doors. We three sisters are the key of those doors. Each of you has to choose one of us and give reason for his choice.
Madhav said, “I choose you because wisdom is the most important credential for a business.”
Zamindar said, “I choose Rupa because silver is money and all my dreams of welfare of the villagers can only be true if I have money.”
Navik said, “I choose Sona because its serene beauty resembles my sweetheart.”
“Its surprising that none of you choose the same key but it is incredible that all of you are correct.” Pragya smiled and said.
She then handed over three keys with snake motifs to them. All the three opened the doors and took the carts of the wealth out of the cave near waterfall. They bid farewell to each other and went their ways. The three snakes smiled and went to their home. Far in the sky three stars smiled because they got their successors.
