The Brahmin and the Cobra

Once upon a time, in a small village, there lived a poor Brahmin who worked hard every day performing religious ceremonies and studying the scriptures. However, he didn't have much success, as he struggled to make ends meet.

One day, feeling tired and sad, the Brahmin decided to rest under a big tree in his garden. While resting, he wondered if a divine spirit lived in the tree that could help him if he showed respect. With this thought, the Brahmin brought a bowl of milk and placed it at the base of the tree as an offering. To his surprise, a cobra appeared from a nearby hole and drank the milk. Realizing that the cobra was a divine spirit, he decided to offer milk every day.

As time passed, the cobra drank the milk that the Brahmin offered, and in return, it left a gold coin in the bowl. Soon, the Brahmin became rich, and he had a big house, lots of land, and many nice things.

One day, the Brahmin had to go to another village for important work. He told his son to give the daily milk to the cobra. The son did what his father said, but when he saw the gold coin in the bowl, he became greedy. He thought that if the cobra gave a gold coin for just a bowl of milk, it must have lots of treasure hidden in its hole. Wanting to take all the treasure, the son tried to kill the cobra with a stick when it came out to drink the milk. However, the cobra was fast and smart. It moved away from the stick and bit the boy with its sharp teeth. The boy died right away because the cobra's bite was very dangerous.

When the Brahmin came back, he was very sad to see his son dead near the tree. He understood what had happened and felt great pain. However, despite his loss, the Brahmin continued to offer milk to the cobra, but the cobra never appeared again, and there were no more gold coins to be found in the bowl. The Brahmin realized that he had lost his wealth, but more importantly, he had lost his son due to the greed and foolishness of wanting more.