There lived in a certain place a Brahman, whose name was Svabhavakripana,
which means a born miser. He had collected a quantity of rice by begging, and
after having dined off it, he filled a pot with what was left over. He hung the
pot on a peg on the wall, placed his couch beneath, and looking intently at it
all the night, he thought, Ah, that pot is indeed brimful of rice. Now, if
there should be a famine, I should certainly make a hundred rupees by it. With
this I shall buy a couple of goats. They will have young ones every six months,
and thus I shall have a whole herd of goats. Then, with the goats, I shall buy
cows. As soon as they have calved, I shall sell the calves. Then, with the
calves, I shall buy buffaloes; with the buffaloes, mares. When the mares have
foaled, I shall have plenty of horses; and when I sell them, plenty of gold.
With that gold I shall get a house with four wings. And then a Brahman will
come to my house, and will give me his beautiful daughter, with a large dowry.
She will have a son, and I shall call him Somasarman. When he is old enough to
be danced on his fathers knee, I shall sit with a book at the back of the
stable, and while I am reading, the boy will see me, jump from his mothers
lap, and run towards me to be danced on my knee. He will come too near the
horses hoof, and, full of anger, I shall call to my wife, Take the baby; take
him! But she, distracted by some domestic work, does not hear me. Then I get
up, and give her such a kick with my foot. While he thought this, he gave a
kick with his foot, and broke the pot. All the rice fell over him, and made him
quite white. Therefore, I say, He who makes foolish plans for the future will
be white all over, like the father of Somasarman.
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