The Fish Seller's Lesson

Long ago, in the village of Silbaripuram, most households suffered from hunger. Wages for work were very low. Moreover, the main farmlands were under the control of the royal palace, and the rest belonged to a few landlords.

Ramu, a daily wage laborer, was always living in poverty. His family consisted of his wife and four children. When they ate their meals, there was never any fish or meat. Their curries were usually just chili powder and chutney. Ramu often found work on the land of his neighbor, Cheeran, a fishmonger.

One day, Cheeran told Ramu, "I will be away for a week. My assistant will look after the fish shop. You can take home any leftover fish that doesn't get sold."

Ramu was in the habit of obeying his boss's words. When he told his wife and children about this, they were overjoyed.

His wife said, "It's been ages since we had fish curry!"

But Ramu said nothing. He did as Cheeran had told him. But in the evening, he brought a basket of leftover fish and dumped it in a corner of the yard!

His wife was shocked! She was angry with Ramu, but he said nothing. Attracted by the smell of fish, the cats from the village gathered and ran off with the fish. He did the same thing for a whole week.

Cheeran, the fishmonger, returned. That evening, the cats arrived at the empty yard as usual and were disappointed. They waited for a long time, but then started fighting among themselves. Hearing the loud commotion, Ramu's wife asked him, "Why are they fighting?"

Ramu replied, "For a week, these cats were getting fish at a specific time. During that time, they were all so happy without any fuss. But now that the fish is suddenly gone, this is the trouble that has arisen."

His wife immediately became annoyed, "If we had eaten fish for a week, there wouldn't have been any problem."

Ramu advised her, "I threw it away so that the children wouldn't be sad after eating fish curry for a week and then suddenly having none."

Moral: You might get many things for free on a temporary basis. If you become attached to them, you may feel sad when they are no longer available. Focus on constant happiness and peace of mind.