The result of a greedy attempt!

Once upon a time, in the province of Silbaripuram, there resided a farmer named Kumaran. He lived with his wife in a small household; however, they were not blessed with any children.

Kumaran was a man of great avarice. Consequently, while taking the milk from his cow to the local tea stall for sale, he would habitually adulterate the milk by adding a certain quantity of water.

Observing this malpractice, his wife would often counsel him, saying, "Greed leads only to ultimate ruin. It is highly improper to deceive those who purchase our milk with such immense faith."

But Kumaran paid no heed to her words. He would retort, "My dear, if I continue to act like Raja Harishchandra, will I ever be able to afford another cow?"

Thus, after several months had elapsed, he managed to accumulate enough coins to purchase a second cow. Carrying his bag of coins, he proceeded towards the cattle fair.

The fair was bustling with goats, cows, buffaloes, and bulls. While traversing the grounds, he decided to take a brief rest and leaned against a large tree. As the tree was situated on the banks of a river, the atmosphere there was quite cool and pleasant.

Gradually, due to exhaustion, Kumaran fell into a deep slumber. At that moment, a monkey perched on the tree descended, seized the money bag, and climbed back to a branch hanging directly over the river.

The monkey opened the pouch. He began biting each silver coin to check its edibility and then proceeded to discard them into the water.

"Plump!"

Hearing the sound, Kumaran opened his eyes. Upon seeing his money bag in the monkey’s possession, he raised a loud alarm. Startled by his shouting, the monkey dropped the entire pouch into the river. The coins dived deep into the depths of the water and were lost.

When a dejected Kumaran returned home and narrated the incident, his wife remarked, "It is only natural that the coins earned by mixing water with milk have finally returned to the river water."

Moral: Wealth acquired through fraudulent means will eventually dwindle away.