Treasure

Muralidhar was not married and now he was old. His younger brother’s family gave him food, two times a day. There was a rumour in the village that Muralidhar had stored his entire savings in a pot buried in the mud floor of his house. People’s speculation varied from a thousand to five thousand silver coins. Muralidhar’s three nephews always spent time with their uncle. Even if one of them had to go somewhere, they would leave someone in their family with the uncle so that the other two brothers do not turn him towards them.

The three of them always tried to outdo the others when it came to taking care of their uncle. They knew that these were the last days in their uncle’s life and he could give the treasure to anyone. One would get milk with saffron while the other would get hot Jilebi in the morning. Another would get him new clothes.

Everyone came to know that the pot was buried in the mud floor. The bulge could be seen from outside. Uncle always had the pot in his sight wherever he sat in the house. He always locked the door when he had to go out.

Uncle passed away one day even as he was getting good care from his three nephews. Even at the funeral, the three of them kept thinking of the treasure. As soon as they came home, they dug up the floor and took out the pot. When they removed the boulder on top of the pot, they found stones inside the pot. There was a white paper on which was written “Dear nephews! You took good care of me! I didn’t have anything but I spent my old age in comfort using my clever thinking. Please take care of my brother. He is an innocent person!”