Natarajan was a well-to-do money-lender. He had a big house and a lot of servants.
But he had one big problem. He had two very noisy neighbours.
Karthik and Krishnan were both blacksmiths and made a lot of noise while they worked. Thakk thakk! Bang bang! Boom boom! It went on all day long. And quite often late into the night. Natarajan found it difficult to sleep. And sometimes he could hardly hear himself speak during the day! But it was no use speaking to them or asking them to make less noise.
“I’m not rich like you,” said Karthik, “and my tools are old and creaky. I can’t help making noise when I work.”
“But there’s a lot of shouting as well,” complained Natarajan.
“I can’t help it if my customers speak loudly,” said Karthik, “I can’t ask them to keep their voices low when they have a problem.”
“Why don’t you try stuffing cotton into your ears?” suggested Krishnan, “then you won’t be able to hear us.”
Natarajan tried different tactics. “Let me buy your houses,” he said, “I’ll pay you a good price.”
“No way,” said Karthik, “I know what you mean by a good price! I know all the mean old tricks you employ when you lend people money. I’m not falling into your trap.”
“We’ll simply end up losing both house and money because you’ll find some excuse not to pay us,” said Krishnan, “besides, it’s our ancestral house so there’s no question of selling it”.
A plan
Finally in sheer desperation Natarajan went to them again.
“Keep your houses,” he said, “I’ll make you a handsome payment if only you shift to a different house for the next five years.”
“You are sure you won’t ask for anything more?” asked Karthik.
“Nothing except that you shift elsewhere,” said Natarajan.
“That could be done,” said Karthik looking at Krishnan.
“We’ll shift to a different house for five years,” said Krishnan, “But not unless you pay us the money first.”
Natarajan paid them the money grudgingly. After all he was a shrewd man and knew that this was a total loss. But at least he’d be able to live and sleep in peace now. He saw Karthik and Krishnan packing their things and was happy. He was even happier when he saw them leaving with their luggage. “I’ll have a peaceful time at last,” he said to himself.
But when he went to bed that night he heard the same old noises once again. He could not imagine what was wrong! Had he not seen them leave with their luggage that very morning with his own eyes?
Then he realised what they had done. The two blacksmiths had merely changed places with each other – each shifting to the other’s house!
