Compiled by London swaminathan

Date : 4 September  2015

Post No. 2125

Time uploaded in London : 19-18

He who is envious needs no enemy to ruin him. Envy itself is enough to bring him ruin – Tirukkural couplet 165

There were two people living next to one another in a village nearby a forest. One has a big and beautiful house and the other has an ordinary house. The person with the small house was very jealous of his neighbour. But that neighbour was very good.

One day the jealous person decided to go to the forest and do some penance for getting more money. To his surprise, an ascetic appeared before him in a short time. He asked the man what he wanted. When he told his story, the ascetic did not find much time to judge the person. But yet he gave him three boons to the jealous person on one condition:

“Look! My dear friend. I can see that you are very jealous of your neighbour. But yet I will fulfil your desire. Here is a dice. You have three chances to become rich. Because you are jealous of your neighbour whatever you get , your neighbour will get double the times. After giving the dice he went away”.

The jealous man came home and started scheming. First he threw the dice and asked for a big and beautiful house with all the facilities. He got it at once and his neighbour got it twice the size. Now his jealousy grew more. He remembered the proverb, “Even if I lose one eye, my enemy must lose both the eyes”. So he threw the dice for the second time praying that he should lose one of his eyes. He lost it. His neighbour lost both the eyes. Now he was very happy. He was thinking about what else he can do to destroy his neighbour. Suddenly a “good” idea flashed in his mind. He threw the dice for the last time praying half of his house must go beneath the ground. And it went down immediately. His neighbour got it doubly. His whole house went under the ground. Because he became blind, he did not realise what was happening. But his servants saw the happiness on the face of the jealous neighbour and found out the mumbo jumbo he was doing. They beat him severely and took all his wealth and ran away.

This is a folk tale. Villagers spread their age old wisdom through stories.