The Old Man And The Goat

Once, there lived an Old man in a small village. On one occasion, he was rewarded with the goat for his services by a wealthy man. The Old man was happy to get a goat. He happily slung the goat over his shoulder and began the journey towards his place. On the way, three cheats (Thugs) saw the Old man taking the goat.

All of them were lazy and wanted to cheat the Old man so that they could take away the goat. They said, “This goat will make a delicious meal for all of us. Let’s somehow get it”. They discussed the matter amongst themselves and devised a plan to get the goat by fooling the Old man. After deciding the plan, they got separated from one another and took different hiding positions at three different places on the way of the Old man.

As soon as, the Old man arrived at a lonely place, one of the cheats came out of his hiding place and asked the Old man in a shocking manner, “Sir, what are you doing? I don’t understand why an old man like you needs to carry a dog on his shoulders?” The Old man was surprised to hear such words. He screamed, “Can’t you see? It’s not a dog but a goat, you stupid fool”. The cheat replied, “Sir, I beg your pardon. I told you what I saw. I am sorry if you don’t believe it”. The Old man was annoyed at the discrepancy but started his journey once again.

The Old man had barely walked a distance, when another cheat came out of his hiding place and asked him, “Sir, why do you carry a dead calf on your shoulders? You seem to be a wise person. Such an act is pure stupidity on your part”. The Old man yelled, “What? How can you mistake a living goat for a dead calf?” The second cheat replied, “Sir, you seem to be highly mistaken in this regard. Either you don’t know how does goat look like or you are doing it knowingly. I just told you what I saw. Thank you”. The second cheat went away smiling. The Old man got confused but continued to walk further.

Again the Old man had covered a little distance when the third cheat met him. The third cheat asked laughingly, “Sir, why do you carry a donkey on your shoulders? It makes you a laughing stock”. Hearing the words of the third thug, the Old man became really worried. He started thinking, “Is it really not a goat? Is it some kind of a ghost?”

He thought that the animal he was carrying on his shoulders might really be some sort of ghost, because it transformed itself from the goat into a dog, from a dog into a dead calf and from a dead calf into a donkey. The Old man got frightened to such an extent that he hurled the goat on the roadside and ran away. The three tricksters laughed at the gullible Old man. They caught the goat and were happy to feast on it.

Moral

There are people that want to take advantage of us. They will ridicule what we have got because they themselves don't have it and they want to take it away from us, or if they can, they will try to destroy what we have, for us to be on the same level as them. We should stay clear from this kind of people and not be carried away by what they do or say.