Page 25 - Moral Stories Vol 5

After the battle of Kurukshetra, the five Pandava brothers performed a great sacrifice and gave large gifts to the poor. All people expressed their amazement at the greatness and richness of the sacrifice and praised them, that it was a sacrifice that the world had never seen before. But, after the ceremony, there came a little mongoose, half of whose body was golden and the other half brown; and he began to roll on the floor of the sacrificial hall. He said to those around, “You are all liars; this is no sacrifice.” “What!”, they exclaimed, “You say this is no sacrifice; do you not know how much money and jewels were given out to the poor and how everyone became rich and happy? This is the most wonderful sacrifice that any man has ever performed.” Then the mongoose began telling a story, “There was once a little village and in it dwelt a poor Brahmin with his wife, his son and his son’s wife. They were very poor and lived on small gifts made to them for preaching and teaching. There came to that land a three years’ famine and the poor Brahmin’s family suffered more than ever. At last, when the family had starved for days, the father brought home one morning a little barley flour, which he had been fortunate enough to obtain and he divided it into four parts, one for each member of the family. They prepared it for their meal and just as they were about to eat, there was a knock at the door. The father opened it and there stood a guest. In India, a guest is a sacred person; he is like God for the time being and must be treated as such. So the poor Brahmin said, “Come in sir, you are welcome.” He sat before the guest his own portion of the food, which the guest quickly ate and said, “Oh, sir, you have partly killed my hunger but I have been starving for ten days and this little bit has just increased my hunger.”
13