Clever Ramachandra

There was once a poor old lady, who lived in a hut and had a cow. Her neighbour was rich and lived in a huge mansion.

She was jealous that the old lady had a cow. So, she thought of a plan to steal the cow. Everyday, the old lady cleaned her house, after which she had a bath.

One day, when the old lady was busy cleaning her house, the neighbour slowly entered the old lady’s compound.

Then when she went for her bath, the neighbour quickly untied the rope and took the cow away.

When the old lady came out, she saw that her cow was missing. So, she went searching for the cow. She saw that her neighbour looked happier than usual. She asked her why she was so happy. She replied, “Nothing special. Everything is as usual."

As the old lady was speaking to her, she realised that her neighbour had stolen the cow.

So, she started arguing with her neighbour. Her neighbour said that she had bought a new cow from the market that morning.

The old lady went with her neighbour to the market to enquire with the shopkeeper whether she had bought a cow. The shopkeeper said, “No”.

Then the neighbour said that he was not the person present at the shop, that morning. But the shopkeeper said that he was there in the morning.

The neighbour replied, “Are you dreaming? You were not there in the morning.” Actually, the neighbour had not bought a cow and was lying.

By then, news had spread and everyone suggested that they visit Ramchandra as he was clever.

So the old lady and the neighbour went to Ramchandra. They narrated the incident.

He asked the neighbour what she feeds the cow. She replied, “I give my cow fruits and a lot of grains.”

Then he put forward the same question to the old lady. She said, “I am poor. I cannot afford anything except grass from my garden.”

Then Ramchandra ordered them to bring the cow. He mixed some ingredient with water and made the cow drink it. It made the cow vomit as it was not good for cows. There was some food in the vomit.

Then he observed the food carefully and said, “I can see only grass. This shows that the owner of the cow is the old lady.”

The old lady thanked Ramchandra, and the neighbour was told to return the cow and punished.

From that day on the neighbour stopped being greedy.

The writer is in Class IV, Kautilya Vidyalaya, Mysore