In a village, there lived a poor Brahmin priest.He was pious, dutiful and very superstitious.
One day, the Brahmin left for a neighbouring Village to collect a gift that he had been promised from a rich landlord. Finishing his job in the neighbouring village, he was on his way back carrying his gift-a fat and healthy goat on his shoulders.
Three hungry crooks crossed his path. They saw the healthy goat on the Brahmin’s shoulders and whispered, “That is a very plump goat. Let us trick the Brahmin and take the goat away. We can then make a tasty dish out of it”
They soon made a plan. The three of them went in separate ways.
The first one stopped the Brahmin and exclaimed in horror, “Oh my god! Such a respected priest and carrying a dog on his shoulders? Don’t you know that it is a sin to touch a dog, or a rooster, or a donkey?”
The Brahmin lost his temper. “You stupid fellow, are you blind? Can’t you see it is a goat, not a dog?”
“Don’t be angry,” replied the first crook. “If you think it is not a dog, then please carry on. But isn’t it ridiculous that you are carrying a dog?”
The Brahmin hardly walked a few more yards when the second crook stopped the Brahmin and looked at him in shock.
`How can a reputed priest like you carry a dead calf on the shoulder?” exclaimed the crook.
The Brahmin yelled, “Are you blind too? This is a healthy and live goat and you say he is a dead calf. You are an ignorant fool!”
“All right, sir,” said the second crook. “Please forgive me. Do as you please.”
“What’s wrong with everyone?” wondered the furious Brahmin as he hurried towards his home. “The whole world has gone mad?”
Now it was the turn of the third crook to the Brahmin’s path. “Sir, why are you carrying a donkey on your shoulders? It is going to bring you misfortune.”
Now the Brahmin was confused. Three people have said that the goat was something else. “Have I been given a ghost that keeps changing into a dog, a dead calf or a donkey!” he wondered. “I don’t want this creature.”
“Before it turns into something else, I better get rid of it.” Confused and scared, he threw the goat to the ground and took to his heels.
Coming out of their hiding place, the crooks took the goat and laughed at the stupidity of the Brahmin. Listening to others blindly, he got duped.
MORAL Have faith in yourself. Don’t believe others blindly.