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The Goldsmith’s Betrayal
The Goldsmith’s Betrayal

War
Warm-Upm-Up
This is the story of a kind Brahmin who saves the lives of three animals and a man. The
animals, including a monkey, a tiger, and a snake, promise to help him in future. When the
need arises, the animals show their gratitude by rewarding him lavishly, but what about the
man? Read on to find out how the treacherous goldsmith repays the Brahmin’s kindness.

Once there lived a Brahmin with his wife and two sons in a small village. He was invited to perform
all the rituals and ceremonies that took place in the village, and thus was able to make a comfortable
living and provide for his family.

Everything was going fine till the village was hit by severe drought. The rivers and lakes began to dry
up and the crops started dying. Soon, the villagers had very little money left to buy food and other
essentials. As a result, they had no money for the pujas.

The Brahmin’s income also dried up as nobody asked him to perform pujas anymore. As days went
by, his family came down to the level of begging, but even that was not enough.

Finally, one day, the Brahmin decided to leave their small village and go to the capital city to look
for a job. Sadly, he took leave of his wife and family and
set off.

After walking for many hours, he reached a deserted
town. He saw no people there, just old broken
down houses. As he was passing by one of the
ruined buildings, he heard a noise that sounded
like a cry for help. To his surprise, the sound was
coming from the ancient dried-up well in the
courtyard of the building.

He cautiously approached the well and peeped
in. It was dark inside the well and at first he could
not see a thing, but as his eyes grew used to
the darkness, he could make out the formidable
shape of a full-grown tiger!

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