Short Stories » The Miserly Father

The Miserly Father - Panchatantra Stories for Kids

Once upon a time, there lived a Brahmin named Shiva. He was very lazy and full of miserliness. He would wake up daily early morning. Next, he would head to the temple streets. He would beg all day and come back with the flour which people used to give him. He had a big fat earthen pot full of flour hanging from the ceiling.

He would look at it with pride and became very happy every time he poured more corn flour in it. He would lay down on his bed and admire the pot every night.

One day, after his long day of begging, he came back home and poured the corn flour into the pot. He noticed that the pot had become nearly full. He became very happy. As he fell asleep, he saw a dream. In his dream, there was famine in his village. People were hungry. He sold his pot full of corn flour at a high price. He had enough money to buy a couple of she-goats. He saw that she-goats gave birth to a number of kids.

Now he was the owner of a big herd. He further saw, he sold all of his goats to buy a herd of cows. He saw he had become very rich and a big merchant. Later, he saw that he was dealing in buffaloes and horses. People were coming into his dream from all over the world to buy his horses. “I will own a big stable for my horses...” he murmured.

He sold his horses and bought buckets full of gold. He had gold biscuits ornaments and even gold plates and spoons. In his dream only he started murmuring “I will buy a big house with this gold. It will have four floors. It will have marble all over. Seeing the riches, One Brahmin will offer his beautiful daughter’s hand in marriage. I will marry her and I will have a beautiful son. I will name him Bahubali Sharma. He will grow up to be a handsome little boy.

When he will be one year old, I will play all of the games with my son. I will play hide and seek with him. One day I will go and hide inside the stable. I will then call out my son. He will walk on his all fours and will look for me. As soon as he comes looking for him, I will call him out” Bahubali, I’m here”.

So he will come running, but he will head in the wrong direction toward the horses. I will shout for my wife to come and lift him up and take him away from the horses. But, she is too busy with the household chores. She will not listen and ignore my calls. I will get very angry with her. So I will kick her.

And Shiva then laying on his bed and in his dream raised his leg and kicked. His kick hit the above-suspended pot. Alas!! The pot broke and all of his corn flour fell on the floor. He immediately woke up from his dream. He was all covered in white flour and looked like a white ghost on a dark night.

MORAL: Don’t let your dreams control your emotions.