THE STORY OF A PEARL
A poor workman and his wife were once almost starving. Every day the man gathered sticks and sold them, while the woman remained at home.
“Wife,” said the man one day, “come, we will both go and gather wood for sale to-day, so that, if we earn enough, we shall not eat rice only, but will buy a small fish, and eat that also.”
The woman agreed, and having sold their stock of firewood, they returned home with a fish for dinner.
On opening it, a small white bead, round and shining, fell upon the floor. The woman was attracted by its brightness, and locked it up in a box.
Many days of poverty and hunger visited that household before the woman remembered the pretty stone found in the fish; but at last she thought of it, and took it to a Bunniah, who, as soon as he set eyes upon it, said: “Give me that, and I will give you as much as you can carry away of ghee and food and oil, not only to-day, but for many days, if you will come to my shop.”
The foolish woman parted with her treasure, not knowing that it was a pearl of great value, and returned home laden with good things.
The Bunniah chuckled with delight. He was crafty, like all Bunniahs, and, you may depend, never kept his promise: such was the foolishness of the woman, and such the cunning and greed of the man.